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Separating the Mets fans from the Mets phonies.

Oct 28, 2009
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I keep reading and hearing about it.

A Yankees vs. Phillies World Series is the ultimate nightmare for Mets fans. It's like choosing between cancer and AIDS. Both suck, and no matter who wins, you still lose.

Well, that's true and yet, not.

First of all, as a Mets (and Angels) fan living in Los Angeles, I can assure you that a Yankees vs. Dodgers World Series would be the ultimate nightmare for me. Thankfully that didn't happen.

Second of all, if you're a New York Mets fan, you do not root for the New York Yankees.

Ever!

Never ever never ever never ever under any fucking circumstances!!!!! You do not pick and choose depending on which team the Yankees are playing. NEVER!!!!!!!

I understand Met fans who don't want to root for the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that has emerged as the new rivals in the NL East and could end up repeating as World Series champions.

But the Atlanta Braves were the Mets' main rivals for many many years, and even played the Yankees in the World Series twice. Losing to them in both 1996 and 1999. If you were a Met fan, YOU STILL ROOTED FOR THE BRAVES TO BEAT THE YANKEES BECAUSE THEY ARE THE FUCKING YANKEES!!!

This is where some people may be confused. Why do Met fans HAVE to hate the Yankees?

Because of the obnoxious arrogance displayed by both their longtime fans and their legions of bandwagon boobs and douchebags who feel that they are absolutely entitled to always win.
Because of the sheer absurdity of "26 rings!!! 26 rings!!!" When the reality is, they have 7 rings since 1962, the first year of the Mets' existence. 7 is still a lot more than 2, but it's not 26. The last thing we need is "27 rings!!! 27 rings!!!" or... 8 since 1962.
Because they are a team whose latest dynasty (1996, 1998-2000) was built upon performance enhancing-drugs, and the Mets LOST to that roided-up team in the 2000 World Series.
Because Alex Rodriguez is another steroid-using lying cheating prick who is in love with both Kate Hudson and Derek Jeter's ass.
Because of the lunacy of the "aura and mystique" horseshit.
Because of the fucking Steinbrenners.
Because in New York City, the media will always treat the Yankees as numero uno because they've been around since 1903, and as a result, have a longer history. Why should any Met fan be happy about that?
Because while I don't believe that the Yankees "buy championships" as no team can do so, they definitely do attempt to buy postseason berths. What makes that unfortunate is that many Met fans believe their team has to follow suit and continually lead the NL in highest payroll, instead of constructing the best team period.
Because Roger Clemens intentionally beaned Mike Piazza, and later threw a bat at him, you fucking forgetful fruits!
Because the Yankees and their fans represent all that is wrong with baseball, and they are known as the "Evil Empire" for many reasons, some of which I've already mentioned.

Because they need to be humbled, forever.

If you are a true Met fan, you already know most of these things. You know that while another Phillies World Series championship is not exactly preferable, it's certainly and unquestionably the lesser of two evils.

Still can't root for the Phillies? Ok fine...

Root for meteors to hit both ballparks. Root for terrorism. Root for the swine flu to infect both clubs and make the games impossible to play. Root for Pilot Sully Sullenberger to make an emergency landing on Derek Jeter instead of the Kate Hudson river.

Only phony baloney bullshit fair-weathered faggot Met fans who have no real understanding or concept of Met fandom root for the Yankees.

LIVEBLOGGING - ALCS Game 2: Angels vs. Yankees

Oct 17, 2009
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A whole lotta talk about the weather in the Bronx, but so far, the sheets of rain have not fallen from the skies. The tarp is not on the field, and while it's still just as cold as it was 24 hours prior during Game 1, it looks like the game will get started on time. Whether it finishes today, is another story entirely because the rain is expected to get heavier into the night.

Some random notes about the ALCS so far. The Yankees won Game 1 by a final score of 4-1.

Chone Figgins desperately needs to snap out of his 0-for-16 postseason slump, only getting on base once when Jonathan Papelbon walked him on a 3-2 count in Game 3 of the ALDS. If the old cliche for the New York Mets is, "As Jose Reyes goes, so do the Mets," then the same (mostly) holds true for Figgins and the Angels. They beat Boston in spite of his inability to get on base, but that likely won't be enough to beat the Yankees

The weather conditions tonight are generally the same as they were last night. Whatever blame the Angels may have been able to put on "not used to the cold and rain" can't happen again. You only get the one mulligan in situations like these.

The Angels' normally stellar defense must return in this must-win game for the Halos. They cannot afford to leave New York without a split of the first two games. The Yankees won Game 1 of the 2002 ALDS and 2005 ALDS against the Angels. Both series were won by the Angels. But they also had to win Game 2 of those 5-gamers.

Joe Saunders hasn't pitched a real game in 2 weeks. He also gives up a lot of homers. Pitching Saunders instead of Kazmir in Yankee Stadium when Kazmir's history against the Bronx Bombers strongly favor him over Saunders, could prove to be a mistake. But Saunders isn't chopped liver. He posted a 16-7 record with a 4.60 ERA this season, with a very strong 2nd half going 7-2.

LIVEBLOGGING

(ALL TIMES PACIFIC)

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Top of 1st Inning:

4:59pm: Chone Figgins makes it 0-for-17 in the postseason striking out for the 8th time against a filthy AJ Burnett curveball. 1 out.

5:00pm: AJ Burnett gets ahead of Bobby Abreu 0-2. Abreu looked awful against Sabathia last night.

5:01pm: Bobby Abreu hits a weak liner to LF Johnny Damon. 2 away.

5:04pm: Torii Hunter bloops a 2-2 curveball into rightfield and ends up on 2nd base with a double.

5:05pm: Vladimir Guerrero grounds the first pitch to SS Derek Jeter. 6-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

5:08pm: Derek Jeter swings at the first pitch from Joe Saunders, grounding out to 3B Chone Figgins. 5-3. 1 out.

5:10pm: Johnny Damon lifts one sky high towards the rightfield seats but it falls on the warning track into Bobby Abreu's glove. 2 outs.

5:12pm: Mark Teixeira strikes out swinging. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:

5:17pm: Kendry Morales strikes out looking at strike 3, and I have no idea what he was looking at, considering it was a fastball right on the plate. 1 out.

5:19pm: Juan Rivera flies out to RF Nick Swisher. 2 outs.

5:20pm: Maicer Izturis hits a comebacker off AJ Burnett's first pitch. Burnett fields it, throws to 1st. Score it 1-3. 3 up, 3 down.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:

5:23pm: A-Rod leads off against Joe Saunders, and is 7-for-14 (.500) against him lifetime with 2 HRs and 7 Ks. Yikes. Good thing no one is on base.

5:24pm: Alex Rodriguez hits a routine liner right at SS Erick Aybar. Aybar is not wearing the ski outfit like he was yesterday. Although 2B Maicer Izturis is. 1 out.

5:26pm: Hideki Matsui hits a 2-2 pitch on the ground to 2B Maicer Izturis. 4-3. 2 outs.

5:27pm: Nick Swisher takes a walk.

5:28pm: As I mentioned earlier, Joe Saunders gives up a lot of homeruns. 29 this season to be exact, tied for 2nd most in the AL with Tampa's James Shields. The man who gave up the most HRs in the AL this season? Jeremy Guthrie of the Baltimore Orioles.

5:29pm: Robinson Cano ropes an 0-2 breaking ball into right-centerfield for a triple that easily scores Nick Swisher. The ball went all the way to the wall and picked up a lot of moisture on its way. The throw into the infield by CF Torii Hunter was mishandled by Maicer Izturis, which prevented any chance of a play at either home or 3rd. No error though. Yankees take the lead 1-0.

5:32pm: Melky Cabrera works a full count against Saunders.

5:33pm: Melky Cabrera tries to check his swing at ball 4 but cannot. The ball isn't handled cleanly by Napoli, so he throws down to Kendry Morales at 1B to complete the strikeout. 3 outs.

Top of 3rd Inning:

5:38pm: Mike Napoli skies a 1-2 pitch but to RF Nick Swisher. 1 out.

5:39pm: Erick Aybar grounds out to Derek Jeter at SS. 6-3. The throw from Jeter almost takes Mark Teixeira off the bag but he keeps it on the base long enough. 2 outs.

5:40pm: AJ Burnett has thrown 9 out of 10 first-pitches for strikes. And he's making the Angels look silly along the way.

5:41pm: You can see the affects of that wind on the shirt of home plate umpire Laz Diaz.

5:42pm: Chone Figgins reaches base on a walk. HALLEULEUUUUUUJAH!!!!

5:43pm: FOX announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver believe Chone Figgins is definitely going to be stealing 2nd in this AB, but there are 2 out, and Burnett has made 3 pickoff throws to first (and counting) without throwing to Abreu.

5:44pm: Burnett's first pitch to Abreu is a ball outside. Is Figgins scaring Burnett? Not likely. We'll see.

5:45pm: The count goes to 2-2 on Bobby Abreu. Figgins hasn't even made an attempt at 2nd yet.

5:46pm: Chone Figgins runs on the 2-2 pitch, but Bobby Abreu flies out to CF Melky Cabrera to end the inning. 3 outs.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:

5:50pm: As FOX makes a point of it to show Jorge Posada looking on in the Yankee dugout, Jose Molina strikes out swinging. 1 out.

5:51pm: The rain is expected to hit the Bronx within the next 10 minutes. How much of it, heaven knows.

5:52pm: Derek Jeter hits an opposite field shot into the rightfield seats. That one is not stopped by the wind and it's a home run for Derek Fucking Jeter. Joe Saunders left that two-seam fastball pitch to Jeter up in the zone. Big mistake. 2-0 Yankees.

5:53pm: Angels' pitching coach Mike Butcher trots to the mound to figure out what's wrong with Joe Saunders. Tim McCarver talks about Derek Jeter being the worst defensive SS in baseball last year, and somehow ties that stat to his hitting this season. Uhhh, what?

5:54pm: Johnny Damon goes opposite field with a base hit to left.

5:55pm: Mark Teixeira hits a weak grounder at 2B Maicer Izturis. Izturis tosses to Aybar at SS and they try to complete the 4-6-3 double play, but Tex beats it out. 2 outs.

5:57pm: Alex Rodriguez lines out to RF Bobby Abreu. 3 outs.

Top of 4th Inning:

5:59pm: They said the rain was coming. I don't see no stinking rain yet.

6:00pm: Torii Hunter hits a weak grounder at 3B Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod throws to Mark Teixeira at 1B. Tex makes a falling-to-the-ground defensive grab to get Hunter. Mark Teixeira's defense at 1B is the #1 reason why Jeter is a far-improved fielding shortstop. He's been making the whole infield look better all year.

6:02pm: Vladimir Guerrero swings at a ridiculous pitch for strike 3, but the ball gets away from Jose Molina. Vladimir runs relatively hard to 1B, but Molina still makes the the throw to Teixeira for the out. Only problem is, he was clearly safe on replay. But close enough that you can't fault the umpire for the real-time mistake. Plus yeesh, how does Vlad swing at THAT garbage? 2 outs.

6:03pm: I can understand CC Sabathia shutting the Angels down, but AJ Burnett isn't THAT good. Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are better pitchers and the Angels were able to beat them.

6:05pm: Kendry Morales gets hit by a pitch on the foot. Any way to get on base at this point, as long as someone can drive in the runs. Juan Rivera, are you the man for the job?

6:06pm: Jose Molina is taking a beating behind the plate tonight from some foul balls. Maybe he's not thrilled being Burnett's personal catcher on a cold night like this.

6:07pm: Juan Rivera hits a weak grounder to SS Derek Jeter, who flips to 2B Robinson Cano for the force. 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:

6:10pm: Hideki Matsui grounds out to 1B Kendry Morales who takes the ball to the bag himself for the out. 1 away.

6:12pm: Nick Swisher grounds out hard to 3B Chone Figgins who makes a nice fielding play. 5-3. 2 outs.

6:13pm: Mike Napoli takes a mound visit after Saunders falls behind 3-0 to Robinson Cano.

6:15pm: Saunders comes back to get a full count on Robinson Cano before he lifts a shot into centerfield, but Torii Hunter tracks it down on the run. 3 outs.

Top of 5th Inning:

6:17pm: The Angels desperately need to get something going in this inning. And just as I finish typing that sentence, Joe Buck says pretty much the exact same thing.

6:18pm: Maicer Izturis rips a shot into rightfield for a ground-rule double. That definitely counts as "getting something going," eh?

6:19pm: Mike Napoli swings at the first pitch but flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. No chance for Izturis to advance. 1 out.

6:20pm: FOX shows the ominous doppler radar of the rainstorm just waiting to move over NYC, but it's seemingly stalled in central Jersey. Perhaps it's stuck on the turnpike. Heyoooooo.

6:21pm: Erick Aybar rips a shot up in the middle past AJ Burnett on the mound for an RBI-single that scores Izturis. Angels get up on the board and cut the lead in half. Yankees still up 2-1. Aybar can be dangerous on the basepaths.

6:22pm: Chone Figgins is up with Aybar on first base. Tim McCarver mentions the possibility of a hit-and-run here, except Figgins has not exactly been making any contact. Burnett almost picks off Aybar at first, but he's back safely, barely.

6:23pm: Erick Aybar takes off for 2nd base, Figgins swings through the curveball to even the count 1-1. Molina's throw is late, and Aybar is safe at 2nd with the stolen base.

6:25pm:.Figgins gets hit on his back (left) foot by a Burnett curveball, and the ball bounces away from catcher Jose Molina. Figgins takes 1st base. The Angels still need to make this a meaningful inning, and they can do so with Bobby Abreu hitting with 1 out. I hope.

6:27pm: Buck and McCarver note that Derek Jeter keeps shouting "hey" at AJ Burnett. But they can't decide whether it's to get Burnett's attention about Aybar at 2nd base, or just to fuck with Aybar's head a bit and keep him closer to 2nd base.

6:28pm: Bobby Abreu just swung at a high fastball out of the zone which would've been ball 4. Now it's a full count.

Tim McCarver believes the runners may be going on the pitch.

6:29pm: Tim McCarver is correct. Aybar and Figgins were running on the pitch, but Abreu fouls it off. The AB continues.

6:30pm: See last entry. It occurs again.

6:31pm: The fans are getting very loud in the ballpark. Runners going again on the 3-2 pitch, Abreu fouls the 8th pitch from Burnett off. If I'm Burnett, I should try that high heat again.

6:32pm: Bobby Abreu flies out to Johnny Damon in the LF corner of the ballpark right up against the fence JUST on the foul side of the pole. 2 outs.

6:34pm: Burnett falls behind Hunter 2-0, but I wonder if he's being careful with Torii in order to pitch to Vlad.

6:35pm: Once Burnett got Hunter to go too far on a check swing for strike 1, he's now 2-2 against Torii and the fans are clamoring for the big out.

6:36pm: Fans breaking out with the loud "AJ" chant, like they did for "CC" last night. Andy Pettite is considering using only his initials for future home games.

6:37pm: Ball 4 gets away from Jose Molina and goes into the seats. Aybar alertly tries to score but can't because the ball went out of play. That's a huge break for the Yankees. Torii Hunter moves to 1st, Figgins to 2nd, Aybar to 3rd. Bases loaded. Vlad is up in the big spot but can't swing at garbage this time.

6:38pm: David Robertson is warming up in the Yankees bullpen. Jose Molina has another mound conference with AJ Burnett, the 6th in this inning. Burnett is ahead of Guerrero 1-2. The "AJ" chant rings out again.

6:39pm: Burnett throws the ball in the dirt and it gets away from Jose Molina. All runners move up 90 feet. Erick Aybar scores and ties the game at 2. Figgins moves to 3rd, Hunter to 2nd. 2-2 count to Vlad.

6:40pm: Good thing that wild pitch occurred, because Vladdy hits a shit grounder to Derek Jeter at shortstop. 6-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

6:44pm: Melky Cabrera hits a leadoff single up the middle past a diving Erick Aybar. With Jose Molina up next, a double play is definitely required.

6:45pm: With Molina bunting, that double play probably won't happen. But Molina fails to execute the bunt and is behind 0-2.

6:46pm: Somehow Joe Saunders can't find the plate now, and it's a full count. Cabrera is likely to be running with the bunt off.

6:47pm: No worries for the Yankees because Jose Molina lines a shot into rightfield for a base hit. Melky Cabrera wasn't running on the pitch, so he stops at 2nd base. Although it was hit fairly hard, so he may not have gotten to 3rd base either way. Derek Jeter is now up in a big spot, as usual.

6:48pm: Jason Bulger gets up in the Angels bullpen. Joe Saunders needs to work a miracle here.

6:49pm: Angels infield corners are playing slightly in on Jeter, expecting a possible bunt. But he has yet to square. 1-1 count to Jeter.

6:50pm: Derek Jeter grounds back to Joe Saunders on the mound. He turns, throws to SS Erick Aybar who takes just enough time to get Jeter at 1B for the double play. Melky Cabrera moves to 3rd on the play. Score that 1-6-3. 2 outs.

6:51pm: Replays show Jeter barely beat the throw but the Angels got the call.

6:52pm: Joe Saunders works a miracle (with a little help from the umpire) by striking out Johnny Damon. Crisis averted. 3 outs.

Top of 6th Inning:

6:55pm: The Angels tied it up in the 5th, but they desperately need to go ahead right now off AJ Burnett before the heart of the Yankees bullpen comes in.

6:57pm: Kendry Morales strikes out looking at a backdoor curve that nips the outside corner of the plate. 1 out.

6:59pm: Juan Rivera flies out to RF Nick Swisher. 2 outs.

7:01pm: On a 3-2 fastball, Maicer Izturis flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. And still no sign of rain after 10pm Eastern time. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

7:04pm: Joe Saunders still pitching for the Angels and he'll be facing Teixeira, A-Rod and Matsui to start.

7:05pm: Mark Teixeira rips a shot at 3B Chone Figgins who makes a great play to come up with the ball, spins around, his throw to Kendry Morales takes him off the bag. Morales spins and tags, but the ball flies out of Kendry's glove on the tag so Tex is safe. Error charged to 3B Chone Figgins on the throw.

7:06pm: Alex Rodriguez flies out to Bobby Abreu in shallow RF. 1 out.

7:07pm: FOX shows the doppler radar image. The storm is moving closer to NYC but hasn't hit the Bronx yet.

7:08pm: Holy shnikeys, another double play!!!! Hideki Matsui grounds sharply to Kendry Morales, who throws the ball to SS Erick Aybar at 2nd, Aybar throws to Joe Saunders covering first for the 3-6-1 double play. WOW!

Top of 7th Inning:

7:10pm: Phil Coke and Joba Chamberlain are loosening up in the Yankee bullpen. AJ Burnett's final inning in all likelihood.

7:11pm: Mike Napoli flies out to RF Nick Swisher. 1 out.

7:12pm: Erick Aybar is toying with the idea of a bunt single, but probably won't do that now that the corners are in. Hopefully looking to line a shot down the rightfield line.

7:14pm: Erick Aybar grounds to 2B Robinson Cano but the ball falls out of his glove while trying to field it. Aybar safe at 1st on the error charged to Cano. That's all for AJ Burnett, who certainly pitched well enough to keep the Yankees in the game. Lefty reliever Phil Coke is coming in for the Yankees and he'll be turning Chone Figgins around to his weaker right side. A bunt wouldn't be the worst idea right now considering the speed of both Aybar and Figgy.

7:16pm: AJ Burnett's pitch count went to 114 in this game.

7:18pm: Phil Coke tosses over to first base a couple of times to keep Aybar honest. Joba Chamberlain is still warming in the Yankee bullpen.

7:20pm: Erick Aybar is definitely being held on by Phil Coke. Coke is a lefty with a good move and Aybar can't seem to get a good read on his motion. Still, Coke falls behind Figgins 3-1.

7:21pm: Chone Figgins walks. Erick Aybar moves to 2nd on the play. The speedsters are on with 1 out and Bobby Abreu coming to bat.

7:22pm: FOX is stat-geeking it up, timing Bobby Abreu's AB's by time spent at the plate. His third AB (against Burnett) lasted over 5:30, going 9 pitches.

7:23pm: Yankee fans getting loud and rowdy with Coke having a 2-2 count on Abreu.

7:24pm: Phil Coke has thrown nothing but fastballs so far against Abreu.

7:25pm: Abreu checks his swing against a Phil Coke slider but definitely went around. Very smart pitching by Coke going all fastballs and fooling him with a slider. 2 outs.

7:26pm: With Torii Hunter and Vladdy Guerrero coming up next (both righties), that's it for Phil Coke. Joe Giradi is making the bullpen call for righty Joba Chamberlain.

7:28pm: FOX shows some of Joba's warmup pitches from the mound, and they were way the hell over Molina's head. Should be a fun AB for Torii.

7:29pm: Or not. Torii Hunter watches two wicked sliders go by to fall behind 0-2.

7:30pm: And then Joba falls behind 3-2 trying to paint the corners but missing.

7:31pm: Torii Hunter hits a weak chopper to Derek Jeter which goes for an infield single. Jeter knows there's no play at first, so he hopes to get Aybar snoozing off of 3rd base. Aybar isn't snoozing, but A-Rod isn't there to cover either. Bases loaded for Vlad, which is probably an advantage for Joba. The Angels can't afford to blow opportunities like this though.

7:32pm: Vlad fouls off 2 pitches and falls behind. This ain't good. He fouls off another that is outside. 3 pitches now. Joba should just throw it in the dirt.

7:33pm: Jose Molina has another mound conference with his pitcher, which prompts Joe Girardi to take a quick mound visit. Molina has taken at least 10-12 trips to the mound all game, which might be a record.

7:34pm: Like I said, low ball to Vlad, he swings and misses. 3 outs.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

7:38pm: Phil Hughes is warming up in the Yankee bullpen. Kevin Jepsen warming up in the Angels' bullpen. Joe Saunders still pitching for the Angels. His pitch count is at 91 to begin the 7th. This will almost certainly be his final inning one way or the other.

7:39pm: Nick Swisher ropes a shot into leftfield for a leadoff single.

7:40pm: Brett Gardner is in to pinch-run for Nick Swisher, and will also replace him in RF. Pitching coach Mike Butcher takes a visit to the mound to meet with the infield. Saunders will face Robinson Cano here, who is NORMALLY a double-play machine, but has been pretty good tonight against Saunders with an RBI triple back in the 2nd inning, and a flyout to CF Torii Hunter in the 4th.

7:43pm: Joe Saunders is trying his best to make sure Brett Gardner does not take off.

7:44pm: Robinson Cano hits into that double play he's so well-loved for. Grounder to 2B Maicer Izturis, toss to SS Erick Aybar, throw to 1B Kendry Morales. 4-6-3 motherfuckaaaaa!!!! 2 outs.

7:46pm: Joe Saunders strikes out Melky Cabrera to finish 7 strong innings. If Joe is capable, I'd love to see him pitch the 8th inning too.

Top of 8th Inning:

7:48pm: Joe Saunders' night is done as he got a bunch of high-fives and congrats in the Angels dugout. Defensive changes for the Yankees. Brett Gardner moves to CF, Melky Cabrera moves to RF, Phil Hughes is on in relief for the Yankees.

7:50pm: Kendry Morales skies a ball to CF Brett Gardner. 1 out.

7:51pm: Juan Rivera ropes the first pitch he sees from Phil Hughes into centerfield for a single.

7:52pm: Reggie Willits is in to pinch-run for Juan Rivera. He'll also play LF for him.

7:53pm: With a 2-2 score in the 8th inning, this is now a battle of the bullpens. Remember, the Yankees are supposed to have the huge advantage in this department. I agree that they do with Mariano Rivera over Brian Fuentes, less so with the rest of them, especially since Girardi already burned through Coke and Joba.

7:54pm: Maicer Izturis hits a tailor made double-play ball on the ground right at Derek Jeter, but he boots the ball and can't handle it. Reggie Willits moves to 2nd, Izturis at 1st base. Error charged to Derek Jeter on the play.

7:55pm: Switch-hitting Gary Matthews Jr. is pinch-hitting for Mike Napoli here. Matthews Jr. will be batting from the left side against righty Phil Hughes.

7:56pm: Huge key AB for Matthews here, as he definitely needs to convert these baserunners into go-ahead runs. Mariano Rivera looms in the 9th inning.

7:57pm: Matthews sucks. He strikes out swinging at an 0-2 curveball. 2 outs.

7:58pm: Joe Girardi is making the call to Mariano Rivera to face Erick Aybar. Enter Sandman. Momma, I'm scurred!!!!

8:00pm: Erick Aybar swings first pitch from Mo and grounds meekly to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

8:01pm: And this is where the game becomes scary for Angels fans. Can the bullpen handle things?

8:02pm: A light rain is falling at Yankee Stadium. Scioscia made a slight alteration in the defensive replacements. Matthews Jr. is playing LF instead of Reggie Willits. Jeff Mathis is catching in place of Mike Napoli. Kevin Jepsen is now pitching for the Angels. Jorge Posada pinch-hitting for Jose Molina.

8:03pm: Jorge Posada grounds hard to 2B Maicer Izturis. He drops the ball, picks it up and throws out Posada at first with enough time. 4-3. 1 out.

8:04pm: Yankee Stadium chanting like mad for Derek Jeter.

8:06pm: Kevin Jepsen strikes out Derek Jeter. Mathis drops the ball but tags Jeter for the strikeout. 2 outs.

8:07pm: Johnny Damon grounds out to 2B Maicer Izturis who backs up on the ball and almost mishandles it, but he recovers and throws to first for the out. 3 up, 3 down. Wonder if Jepsen will get another inning since that was pretty quick. Of course, that assumes the Angels cannot score against Mariano Rivera in the top 9, which... I don't think they will.

Top of 9th Inning:

8:09pm: Jorge Posada is behind the plate for the Yankees now. Brian Fuentes is warming up in the Angels bullpen. Chone Figgins leads off against Rivera.

8:11pm: Chone Figgins bloops a ball into short leftfield, but LF Johnny Damon was playing in to begin with and makes a spectacular diving catch for the first out.

8:13pm: Bobby Abreu falls behind 1-2 to Rivera. Can't say I'm surprised this time.

8:14pm: Bobby Abreu watches strike 3 go by. 2 outs. Ugh.

8:15pm: Rivera falls behind Torii Hunter 2-0 before getting him to swing at 2 strikes. The fans want Torii's blood, and they're gonna get it.

8:16pm: Torii Hunter watches strike 3 go by, and he damn well knew it. 3 outs.

Bottom of 9th Inning:

8:18pm: Team Walkoff is primed and ready to go. AJ Burnett is probably prepping the creampies just in case. No one is warming up for the Yankees in the bullpen. Kevin Jepsen is still pitching for the Angels, as expected. Can't go to Fuentes until you have the lead. The rain is beginning to fall, even though it looks like light snow. So it's not falling heavily enough to cause any problems.

8:20pm: Mark Teixeira grounds out to 1B Kendry Morales who walks to the bag for the out. 1 away.

8:21pm: Alex Rodriguez comes to the plate. He's 0-for-3 tonight, all 3 ABs against Joe Saunders. The fans want the walkoff bomb. I sure don't. And Jepsen better make sure it doesn't happen.

8:22pm: A-Rod grounds out to 3B Chone Figgins. 5-3. 2 outs.

8:23pm: Joe Buck points out that the Yankees have only had 1 hit since the 5th inning. That hit belonged to Melky Cabrera.

8:24pm: Kevin Jepsen falls behind Hideki Matsui 3-1. Matsui is still a very dangerous candidate for the walk-off bomb, so I don't blame Jepsen for being super careful against the lefty.

8:25pm: Sure enough, Hideki Matsui ropes a single into rightfield. Freddy Guzman is in to pinch-run for Matsui here. Lefty Brett Gardner in to face Jepsen.

8:27pm: With Guzman running on the 0-1 pitch, Gardner chops a ball on the left side of the infield hole for a base hit. Guzman to 3rd on the hit. Runners on 1st and 3rd. Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher has an infield conference with Robinson Cano coming to the plate. McCarver suggests the intentional pass to lefty Cano in order to pitch to righty Cabrera. I wholeheartedly agree.

8:28pm: Looks like they're pitching to Cano after all. Brett Gardner takes 2nd base on defensive indifference. First pitch to Cano is a strike. This is that time in the game where I have a fucking heart attack.

8:29pm: Heart attack averted! Cano makes contact with a swinging bunt that goes towards the pitcher but catcher Jeff Mathis fields it cleanly and throws to Kendry Morales at 1B to get the nailbiting 3rd out. Holy shit, we're going extra innings.

Top of 10th Inning:

8:31pm: Mariano Rivera is still in the game for the Yankees, pitching to Vlad, Morales, Mathis.

8:32pm: Darren Oliver is warming up in the Angels bullpen.

8:33pm: Vladimir Guerrero leads off the inning with a bloop single to right-center. The outfield was playing deep for Vlad, so that worked out.

8:34pm: Kendry Morales swings at the first pitch from Mo, grounding into a 4-6 forceout. Cano to Jeter. The throw to Teixeira is late and Morales is safe at 1st. 1 out.

8:35pm: Jeff Mathis can't bunt properly as he pops up a bunt on the third base side of the mound. The ball is caught by Mariano Rivera and we get a slight collision between A-Rod and Rivera, but the ball remains in Mo's glove. 2 outs.

8:37pm: Maicer Izturis flies out to 2B Robinson Cano running away from the plate in short centerfield. 3 outs. Good news, that's probably all from Rivera. Bad news, Yankees are coming up and I'm always nervous. At least it's not the heart of the order?

Bottom of 10th Inning:

8:40pm: FOX is showing us a bunch of Melky Cabrera walkoff hits. I don't like that. Lefty Darren Oliver is pitching in relief for the Angels. He is NOT a power pitcher, but is pretty good with the finesse. He better be here.

8:41pm: Mariano Rivera is still walking around the Yankee dugout. Could he pitch the 11th if necessary? I fucking hope not.

8:42pm: On a 3-2 count, Melky Cabrera bloops a ball in short rightfield but it goes foul. Whew. That would've been a leadoff double or worse if it landed fair.

8:43pm: Melky Cabrera hits a ball into centerfield for a leadoff single. Torii Hunter didn't take any chances on that ball, letting it drop in front. Oliver will have to face Posada here and hopefully induce a double play. Posada might be bunting though. Angels' infield is in.

8:44pm: WTF JUST HAPPENED? Jorge Posada grounds to 2B Maicer Izturis, who tosses the ball to SS Erick Aybar at 2nd, throwing the ball to Kendry Morales at 1st. However, 2B umpire says that Aybar didn't touch the base. He's technically correct, but that's a "neighborhood" call always made by the 2B umpire if you're that close to the base. Scioscia flies out of the dugout to argue but to no avail. So Cabrera is safe at 2nd, Posada out at 1st.

8:46pm: Righty Derek Jeter gets the intentional pass to 1st base so Oliver can face Johnny Damon here.

8:48pm: Tim McCarver points out that on every double play this game, Aybar did indeed tag 2nd base. Still, there needs to be global consistency throughout MLB on that "neighborhood call," especially when Aybar was SO close to 2nd base. Yes, technically he didn't touch the base, but that call has been an "out" a billion times in the past. Very frustrating.

8:49pm: On a 3-2 pitch, Johnny Damon foul pops out to 3B Chone Figgins just shy of the TV camera's well.

8:50pm: The rain is starting to pour now. Mark Teixeira has a chance to be a hero with a base hit.

8:51pm: EAT SHIT YANKEES! Mark Teixeira grounds to SS Erick Aybar who goes to 2B Maicer Izturi for the 6-4 forceout. 3 outs. Wow. The Angels overcame HUGE adversity there, but that rope is burning short.

Top of 11th Inning:

8:54pm: No more Rivera. PRAISE DA LORD! Alfredo Aceves is pitching in relief for the Yankees.

8:55pm: The rain has picked up even more, as fans scatter for cover.

8:57pm: Gary Matthews Jr. takes a leadoff walk thanks to Aceves. Matthews Jr. CAN run, but isn't a threat in the vein of Figgins, Aybar, Izturis, etc.

8:58pm: Erick Aybar lays down a textbook sac bunt fielded by Aceves. He throws to Cano covering 1st for the out. 1-4. 1 out. Damaso Marte is warming up in the Yankees bullpen.

8:59pm: Brian Fuentes is warming up in the Angels bullpen again, in hopes the Angels can score Matthews. The rain continues to fall, but not at a 2008 World Series Game 5 pace...

9:01pm: CHONE FIGGINS COMES THROUGH!!!! A bloop shot into leftfield scores Gary Matthews Jr. from 2nd base. Johnny Damon clearly has zero arm because almost anyone else would've nailed Matthews Jr. at the plate, but he scores to give the Halos the 3-2 lead. Figgins takes 2nd base on the throw home.

9:02pm: Bobby Abreu gets the intentional walk from Aceves. Brian Fuentes is almost certainly getting warm in the pen again in hopes of closing out the Skanks in the bottom of the 11th.

9;04pm: Torii Hunter can't add to the damage as he grounds hard to 3B Alex Rodriguez who turns the 5-4-3 double play. A-Rod to Cano to Tex. 3 outs. Fuentes time.

Bottom of 11th Inning:

9:07pm: Brian Fuentes is in to close (?) out the game. He'll pitch to A-Rod and then, we'll see. Freddy Guzman and Brett Gardner are pencilled in. Fuentes always pitches far better to lefty hitters than righties. The Yankee Stadium grounds crew is putting down a bunch of dry dirt on the pitching mound.

9:08pm: I'm glad A-Rod is batting now instead of with someone potentially on base. The Yankee fans are going nuts for A-Rod right now. Fuentes has to go nuts ON him.

9:10pm: You... have to be kidding me. Alex Rodriguez hits an opposite field shot down 0-2 in the count that just clears the rightfield fence. Abreu can't make the leaping catch. Yankees tie it 3-3. Unfuckingbelievable. This sucks donkey nuts.

9:13pm: Freddy Guzman strikes out swinging. 1 out.

9:15pm: Brett Gardner hits a comebacker to Fuentes on the pitcher's mound. He throws to Kendry Morales at 1B for the 2nd out.

9:17pm: Robinson Cano grounds out to 1B Kendry Morales, and the game continues on. 3 outs.

Top of 12th Innning:

9;20pm: Alfredo Aceves still pitching for the Yankees. Vladimir Guerrero pops up to SS Derek Jeter who has a very tough time tracking down the ball in the pouring rain, but he's able to make the catch. 1 out.

9:21pm: No more for Aceves, as the Yankees need to turn Kendry Morales around to his right side, so they're trotting out lefty Damaso Marte.

9:24pm: Kendry Morales grounds out to 3B Alex Rodriguez. 5-3. 2 outs.

9:25pm: And that one batter was all Marte was in there to face. Now it's David Robertson out of the bullpen. I know you have to manage to win NOW, but who is even left in the Yankee pen? Chad Gaudin?

9:28pm: Can Jeff Mathis be an unlikely hero? Highly doubtful.

9:29pm: Well, not a solo blast, but Mathis hits a shot into right-centerfield for a 2-out double. Still gotta get him home somehow.

9:30pm: Maicer Izturis is up from the left side. They're giving him the intentional pass in order to face the free-swinging switch-hitting (still from the left side here) Gary Matthews Jr. The Angels HAVE to score a run here or I'm pretty sure they're losing in the bottom of the 12th.

9:33pm: Matthews Jr. fails. Strikes out swinging. 3 outs. We're going to the bottom of the 12th, and I think this game is finally ending... Ugh.

Bottom of 12th Inning:

9:36pm: Ervin Santana is in to pitch for the Angels. He's gotta pitch lights out as long as possible. The Angels at least have arms in the pen left, but they need to score runs and KEEP the lead, fer fuck's sake.

9:39pm: Ervin Santana gets Melky Cabrera to strike out swinging. 1 out.

9:40pm: Jorge Posada hits a pop fly to the Bermuda Triangle in right-center where Izturis, Abreu and Hunter cannot grab it. Single.

9:42pm: Derek Jeter hits a hard shot up the middle that Erick Aybar tracks down, drops, but then shuttles the ball to Izturis at 2B for the force on Posada. Jeter on 1st. 2 outs.

9:43pm: Johnny Damon ropes a shot into rightfield for a base hit single. Bobby Abreu gets the ball into the infield early enough to stop Derek Jeter from scoring. He stops at 3rd base. Infield conference at the mound with pitching coach Mike Butcher. Mark Teixeira with another chance to be a hero.

9:44pm: Johnny Damon takes 2nd on defensive indifference. Santana isn't giving Tex anything to swing at. 4 straight outside balls loads the bases. An intentional unintentional walk. A-Rod at the plate. At least Ervin Santana is a righty?

9:47pm: Alex Rodriguez skies out to CF Torii Hunter and the Halos get another reprieve. I'm seriously shocked that they got out of that jam. Unfuckingreal.

Top of 13th Inning:

9:50pm: Erick Aybar ropes a first pitch right at 2B Robinson Cano, but Cano was expecting a slight hop to the ball. The ball goes underneath his glove and into RF. That's gotta be another E for Cano. It is. 3rd error of the night for the Yankees. Two on Cano, one on Jeter. Aybar is on 1st.

9:51pm: Chad Gaudin is warming up in the Yankees bullpen. There's no one left after him unless they somehow trot CC back out.

9:52pm: Chone Figgins lays down the sac bunt in front of the plate to move Erick Aybar to 2nd base. Posada fields it easily and throws to 1B Mark Teixeira to get the out. 1 away.

9:53pm: Bobby Abreu is getting the intentional pass from David Robertson. And Joe Girardi is making a mound visit to make sure Robertson knows how to pitch to Hunter and perhaps Vlad Guerrero.

9:56pm: Ahead 0-2 to Torii Hunter, David Robertson throws two awful pitches in the dirt, short of the plate to Posada. Now he falls behind 3-2.

9:58pm: With the runners on the move, Torii Hunter grounds out to SS Derek Jeter. 6-3. 2 outs. Aybar to 3rd, Abreu to 2nd. Vlad up in the biggest spot of his life now.

10:00pm: Vlad hits a groundball that glances off of Robertson's glove but is fielded by 2B Robinson Cano. 1-4-3. 3 outs. Angels just can't make it happen anymore. Ervin Santana has gotta keep the Yankees off the bases.

Bottom of 13th Inning:

10:04pm: Eric Hinske is wearing a rally cap in the Yankee dugout. Jerry Hairston is pinch-hitting for Freddy Guzman.

10:05pm: He ropes a shot into center for a leadoff single. Here we goes again...

10:06pm: Brett Gardner bunts on first pitch, and it's a nice one down the 1B line. Kendry Morales fields it, throws to 2B Maicer Izturis covering first for the out. 1 away.

10:07pm: FOX just flashed a graphic of the Yankees on the bench. The only one left is 3rd catcher Francisco Cervelli.

Ervin Santana almost throws wild on the first pitch of an intentional walk to Robinson Cano. That's the 5th IBB of the game.

10:08pm: Melky Cabrera, are you going to be a hero? Well, kinda... He grounds a ball on the 2B side which is fielded by Maicer Izturis. He tries to throw to Aybar at 2nd base but the ball sails wide of Aybar. Chone Figgins scatters to back up the shitty throw but drops it. Hairston is able to score, and probably would have either way. Izturis' throw shoulda been to first, but my god... What the fuck Angels... How do you blow it like THAT especially when you survived so many improbable circumstances throughout?

Yankees win 4-3 in 13 innings. Kill me.

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. New York Yankees - 6/28/09

Jun 28, 2009
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I'm not gonna lie.

This is going to be a pivotal game for the New York Mets in numerous ways. They've already lost the season series against the Yankees, having lost 4 out of 5 games so far. Will tonight be 5 of 6? Or can they escape with a 2-4 season record against the Skanks? If the Mets lose tonight, they'll have been swept at home by the Yankees.

The first Mets-Yankees game this year in which 2B Luis Castillo dropped what should have been the final out and put the Mets up 1-0 in the series, is looming larger than it has in a long while.

But it's more than the Yankees now. If the Mets win, they're going to fall to a record of 37-37, and 3 games behind the NL East-leading Phillies. Falling to .500 at this point in the season is only slightly palatable because the rest of the NL East (not including Washington) are all within 5 games of each other.

This is a Mets offense riddled with injury, and the reserves are not holding it together they way they need to. David Wright may lead the NL in BA, but his power numbers have dropped so far down, that he can't carry the team anymore.

The minor league callups like Argenis Reyes (2B) and Fernando Martinez (CF) have been perfectly fine in the field, and absolutely dreadful at the plate. The middle relief has become a little burnt out, and the minor league callups like Jon Switzer and veteran Elmer Dessens haven't helped any.

The key to the Mets winning games is that the "everyday players" need to step things up at the plate and begin to manufacture runs. You don't have to hit longballs to win games, but you do have to execute when runners are in scoring position. For a team to be 1-hit by AJ Burnett and shutout by the Yankees last night is discouraging. But the Mets only amassed 3 hits and 1 run on Friday night. So they've been outscored 14-1 by the Yankees in 2 games, and
40-15 over the 5 games played so far. Disgusting.

Tonight's pitching matchup pits Chien-Ming Wang (0-6, 11.20 ERA) aginst Livan Hernandez (5-2, 4.05 ERA). While Wang is winless this season, and hasn't won a game since June 15, 2008, he IS looking better than he did in the beginning of the season. He gave up 3 ER in 5 IP in each of his last two starts (Washington, Atlanta), and while that's nothing great, it's a lot better than the way he was pitching to begin the 2009 season.

Livan has become a solid #2 for the Mets. In his last two starts, he pitched 7 innings each game, giving up 2 earned runs each time out. However, he was the starting pitcher against the Yankees in the first game between these two ballclubs in 2009 in what is forever going to be known as "The Castillo game," and he got rocked hard in that outing for 6 ER in 5.1 IP.

The trick to Livan's success tends to be fiddling around a wider strike zone, and taking advantage of relatively inexperienced hitters who aren't easily fooled by his 80 MPH fastballs and 60 MPH curveballs. Livan has been enormously successful for the Mets against other NL East opponents this season, less so against the crosstown rival Yankees. We'll see if he can save this team from sinking tonight.

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(All times Pacific)
Top of 1st Inning:
5:11pm: Not a good way for the Mets to start a ballgame. Derek Jeter pounds a shot to deep left-center field which bounces off the wall for a leadoff double.

5:13pm: Nick Swisher grounds a ball to 1B Daniel Murphy who is playing in a little. Murphy seems to have a little trouble getting the ball out of his glove. He throws to 3B David Wright to get Derek Jeter at 3rd base, but Jeter makes it in safely. I don't fault Murphy for trying to make the play, but the sure out at 1st was probably more wise. Swisher safe at 1st.

5:16pm: Mark Teixeira strokes a double down the leftfield line scoring Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher. 2 runs across so far. Yankees up 2-0 and still nobody out.

5:18pm: Alex Rodriguez walks. Livan Hernandez is looking pretty bad through 4 batters. He may end up settling down but he's gotta limit the damage ASAP.

5:21pm: Robinson Cano grounds into 2B Luis Castillo, who throws to SS Alex Cora, and then onto 1B Daniel Murphy for the double play. However, Daniel Murphy drops the ball out of his glove, and his foot was moving off the bag anyways, so it looks like Cano woulda made it safely to first base no matter what. Daniel Murphy can't afford any more mental mistake at 1B. Mark Teixeira to 3rd base. 1 out.

5:24pm: Livan Hernandez almost picks off Robinson Cano at 1st but he dives back in just ahead of the tag.

5:25pm: Jorge Posada hits a sac fly to CF Fernando Martinez. He finally makes a two-handed catch and makes a nice throw home to catcher Brian Schneider, but Teixeira is safe without a problem. Yankees up 3-0. 2 outs.

5:26pm: Robinson Cano is caught stealing by Brian Schneider who throws onto Alex Cora, getting Cano easily. 3 outs. Livan has GOT to settle down, and no more fucking errors from the Mets defense.

Bottom of 1st Inning:
5:29pm: Daniel Murphy leads off and flies out to CF Brett Gardner. 1 out.

5:30pm: They just showed footage of Livan Hernandez in the Mets dugout after the top of the 1st. Schneider told him he did well, and then Livan gave Castillo a pat on the back for his nice play in the inning. Livan then went into the clubhouse to vomit.

5:31pm: Alex Cora gets hit by a pitch from Chien-Ming Wang and takes his pass to 1st base.

5:34pm: David Wright strikes out at a slider in the dirt. Lovely. 2 outs.

5:36pm: Gary Sheffield singles up the middle, sending Alex Cora to 3rd base.

5:37pm: Fernando Tatis flies out to RF Nick Swisher. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:
5:42pm: ESPN shows an interesting stat about Livan Hernandez. During the 1st inning this season, Livan has posted a 6.00 ERA. The rest of the game? A far more manageable 3.90 ERA.

5:43pm: Melky Cabrera strikes out swinging. 1 out.

5:44pm: Brett Gardner flies out to SS Alex Cora in shallow leftfield. Cora uses two hands baby. 2 outs.

5:45pm: Fernando Martinez may suck with the bat, but he makes a superb diving catch in centerfield to grab a sinking liner off the bat of pitcher Chien-Ming Wang. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:
5:50pm: Fernando Martinez grounds out to 3B Alex Rodriguez who is perfectly positioned in the 3B-SS hole, away from the line, makes a short dive to his left and throws to 1B Mark Teixeira for the easy out. 1 away.

5:51pm: ESPN shows a replay of A-Rod on the last play wincing a bit after the throw. Did he just hurt his hip a little? I FUCKING HOPE SO!!!!

5:53pm: Brian Schneider takes a 3-2 pitch low for a walk.

5:55pm: Luis Castillo grounds into a 4-6 forceout. 2B Robinson Cano to SS Derek Jeter to get Schneider. Castillo is safe at first as there was no throw from Jeter since Luis can still move.

5:56pm: Livan Hernandez swings at the first pitch he sees from Wang, grounding it to SS Derek Jeter who tosses to 2B Robinson Cano for the force. 6-4. 3 outs.

Top of 3rd Inning:
5:59pm: Derek Jeter hits a solid and hard line drive into the glove of CF Fernando Martinez. 1 out.

6:01pm: Nick Swisher crushes a ball off the FOXBusiness.com sign just on the foul side of the rightfield foul pole.

6:02pm: Swisher hits a line drive on the next pitch into the glove of RF Fernando Tatis. 2 outs.

6:03pm: Mark Teixeira lines out to LF Gary Sheffield. 3 outs. Livan looks like he settled down. But this Mets offense needs to come alive and not allow Chien-Ming Wang to get his shit straight today of all days.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:
6:06pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging at a low pitch in the dirt. Posada drops it so Murphy runs but Posada completes the strikeout by throwing down to 1st. 1 out.

6:09pm: Alex Cora works out a walk.

6:10pm: David Wright hits into a 6-4-3 motherfucking double play. 3 outs. Wang can walk everyone he wants as long as the Mets keep grounding into these fucking DPs.

Top of 4th Inning:
6:14pm: Alex Rodriguez rips a ball into CF for a single. That makes him 12 for 20 off of Livan Hernandez.

6:15pm: Robinson Cano hits into a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play. Castillo to Cora to Murphy. 2 outs. Whew!

6:16pm: Jorge Posada grounds out to 2B Luis Castillo. 4-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:
6:22pm: Gary Sheffield takes a leadoff walk.

6:24pm: King of the Double Play Fernando Tatis hits a chopper to 3B Alex Rodriguez, but with Sheffield running to 2nd base, Rodriguez throws on to 1B for the sure out. 1 out, Sheffield at 2nd base.

6:28pm: Fernando Martinez hits a fly ball the opposite way to deep leftfield which goes over the head of LF Melky Cabrera. The ball takes a carom towards centerfield, so it's tracked down by CF Brett Gardner. Martinez is into 2nd with the double, Sheffield scores. Mets finally score a run!!!! But they're down 3-1.

6:30pm: Brian Schneider grounds to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. Fernando Martinez to 3rd on the play. 2 outs.

6:32pm: Luis Castillo slaps a shot down the 3rd base line to score Fernando Martinez. Mets down 3-2 now.

6:33pm: Luis Castillo steals 2nd base although he doesn't really slide but rather, he kinda flops down at the last second. Maybe he thought that either the throw wasn't coming, or the throw was going into centerfield? Strange, but he's safe...

6:34pm: Livan Hernandez grounds out to SS Derek Jeter. 6-3. 3 outs. Finally some offense against Wang!

Top of 5th Inning:
6:37pm: Melky Cabrera crushes a 3-2 pitch to one of the deepest parts of right-centerfield, but Gary Sheffield makes a nice catch on a 400-ft flyball. 1 out.

6:38pm: Brett Gardner takes a walk to 1st.

6:40pm: Chien-Ming Wang tries to lay down a bunt but it goes up in the air about 15 feet, leaving Brett Gardner unsure of whether to run or not. Livan lets it drop on the 1st base side of the mound, fields it cleanly, throws to SS Alex Cora at second base, who throws onto Luis Castillo covering 1st to complete the double play. Excellent job by the Mets defense for once. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

6:43pm: On the replay of the double play that ended the 5th, you can see Wang is slowed down by Livan Hernandez's body that is in his way as he throws onto 2nd base. Wang can't legally run into him while Livan is fielding the ball, but he could have maybe bumped him immediately afterwards while the throw was being made. Still, I can't imagine Wang wants to run into any collisions.

6:45pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging again. 1 out.

6:46pm: Alex Cora grounds out to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 2 outs.

6:47pm: David Wright hits a soft grounder to 3B Alex Rodriguez which is fielded very nicely by A-Roid, who throws onto 1B Mark Teixeira to get the third out. David Wright is 0 for 11 this series.

Top of 6th Inning:

6:52pm: Derek Jeter takes a leadoff walk. Leadoff walks are never a good thing, and Nick Swisher has been hitting the ball hard tonight against Livan Hernandez.

6:56pm: Livan Hernandez walks Nick Swisher as well. Derek Jeter to 2nd base. Mark Teixeira is up and we's in trouble folks.

6:57pm: Bobby Parnell is warming up in the bullpen. Well that's not gonna help things...

6:58pm: Mark Teixeira skies out to Fernando Martinez in deep CF just short of the warning track. Both Jeter and Swisher tag up to 3rd and 2nd base respectively. 1 out.

6:59pm: With Alex Rodriguez up at the plate, 1 out, and an empty base, they may choose to walk A-Rod and face Robinson Cano, hoping to induce another double play out of Cano. Tough choice, but with A-Rod's numbers against Livan, I would probably give A-Rod the intentional pass.

7:00pm: Jerry Manuel makes the call to give A-Rod the intentional walk and load the bases. Robinson Cano has hit into two double plays tonight so far, although only one of them was successfully completed.

7:01pm: Robinson Cano is more unclutch than David Wright lately. Another tailor-made double play induced. Cano grounds up the middle to SS Alex Cora, who steps on 2nd and throws onto 1st to complete the 6-3 double play. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

7:04pm: Gary Sheffield hits a chopper up the middle which pitcher Chien-Ming Wang tries to leap and grab but it deflects off his glove towards 3rd base. Sheffield gets an infield single for his troubles.

7:07pm: Fernando Tatis lays down a bunt in front of the plate which is fielded by pitcher Chien-Ming Wang. Wang makes a slightly high throw to first base but Mark Teixeira makes the catch. Sheffield over to 2nd base. ESPN announcers Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and Steve Phillips are wondering about that play, theorizing that maybe Tatis missed a sign and it was supposed to be a hit and run instead of a sac bunt. I kinda doubt that. Tatis isn't good enough of a contact hitter to execute the hit and run, and with his luck it'd STILL be a double play. 1 out.

7:09pm: Lefty reliever Phil Coke is in the ballgame to pitch for Chien-Ming Wang. He'll be facing lefties Fernando Martinez and Brian Schneider, and also turn Luis Castillo around to the right side if it gets that far.

7:10pm: I don't like this matchup. Fernando Martinez can't hit lefty pitching this year unless it's Andy Pettite.

7:12pm: Sure enough, Fernando Martinez not only strikes out, but swings at a pitch which was at the level of his face.

7:13pm: Omir Santos is announced as the right-handed pinch-hitter to replace Brian Schneider, so Yankees manager Joe Girardi is making a double-switch of his own. Johnny Damon is in to play leftfield, Melky Cabrera moves over from leftfield to rightfield. Philip Hughes relieves Phil Coke, and Nick Swisher is out of the game.

7:16pm: Omir Santos flies out to RF Melky Cabrera. 3 outs.

Top of 7th Inning:

7:21pm: Jorge Posada slices a linedrive into leftfield but Fernando Tatis tracks it down. 1 out.

7:23pm: Melky Cabrera skies out to LF Fernando Tatis. 2 outs.

7:25pm: Brett Gardner pop flies out 2B Luis Castillo. The fans give him a sarcastic cheer. Although who knows if it's the Mets or Yankee fans doing that. Maybe both? 3 outs.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

7:31pm: Luis Castillo takes a leadoff walk.

7:32pm: Argenis Reyes is in to pinch-hit for Livan Hernandez. He's there to bunt Castillo over.

7:33pm: Argenis Reyes lays down a bunt towards the charging Alex Rodriguez who makes the throw to SS Derek Jeter to barely get Luis Castillo out at second base. Reyes should've been bunting towards 1st instead. Reyes now on 1st. 1 out.

7:34pm: With Argenis Reyes running on the pitch, Daniel Murphy grounds to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 2 outs. Reyes at 2nd base.

7:38pm: Alex Cora watches a 1-2 fastball go right over the plate and I have no idea why, but he definitely looked overmatched by Hughes' 95 MPH fastballs. 3 outs.

Top of 8th Inning:

7:40pm: Lefty Pedro Feliciano is in to pitch for Livan Hernandez.

7:41pm: Johnny Damon grounds out to 1B Daniel Murphy who tosses onto Feliciano covering first base for the out. 1 out.

7:42pm: Brian Bruney is warming up in the Yankees bullpen.

7:44pm: Derek Jeter works out a walk.

7:45pm: Sean Green is warming up in the Mets bullpen.

7:46pm: Lefty hitter Hideki Matsui is in to pinch-hit for Phil Hughes. He grounds out to Pedro Feliciano. 1-3. Jeter to 2nd base. 2 outs.

7:48pm: After falling behind 2-1 to Teixeira, they make the call to give him the intentional pass. Probably a good idea.

7:49pm: Righty Sean Green is in to pitch for Pedro Feliciano. He's gonna face righty Alex Rodriguez.

7:53pm: With a 3-2 count, Sean Green walks Alex Rodriguez to load the bases. Jerry Manuel looks ticked off.

7:54pm: A lot of back and forth "LETS GO YANKEES" and "YANKEES SUCK" call and response chants. Unfortunately it's the Mets sucking big-time in this series.

7:55pm: Robinson Cano is up with the bases loaded and 2 out.

7:56pm: Robinson Cano grounds sharply to Luis Castillo's left. Castillo makes it looks easy with the pick and throw to 1st base for the 3rd out. That would've been another double play for Cano had there been less than 2 outs.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

7:58pm: Brian Bruney is on in relief of Phil Hughes to pitch the 8th and bridge the gap to Mariano Rivera. He'll be facing the slumping heart of the Mets lineup, beginning with David Wright.

8:00pm: David Wright takes a 4-pitch leadoff walk. I woulda preferred a homerun, but Bruney wasn't exactly giving Wright anything in the zone to swing at.

8:01pm: Alfredo Aceves is warming up in the Yankees bullpen.

8:02pm: Gary Sheffield skies out to SS Derek Jeter in shallow leftfield. 1 out.

8:03pm: Fernando Tatis is up, and I'm scared of the double play...

8:04pm: Bruney didn't give Tatis anything much to put in play, so he takes a walk too. Wright to 2nd base.

8:05pm: Fernando Martinez is in, and this is his chance of redemption. 2 men on, and he's facing a right-hander. He can't press here. A basehit to the outfield will likely tie the game.

8:06pm: Fernando Martinez swings at another high pitch around his neck level, and K's. Fucking crap. 2 outs.

8:07pm: Enter Sandman. It's time for a 4-out save from Mariano Rivera who will be facing Omir Santos.

8:08pm: Mariano Rivera comes in to pitch in relief of Brian Bruney. Bruney is responsible for the runners on 1st and 2nd.

8:12pm: Santos is putting together a nice AB against Rivera, and he just gave everyone a thrill by punching a nice liner down the rightfield line but landed on the railing in foul territory.

8:14pm: David Wright steals 3rd base without a throw.

8:15pm: Mariano throws an inside cutter that crosses the inside corner. Santos doesn't like the call, but it was a strike. 3 outs. *sigh*

Top of 9th Inning:

8:17pm: Jeremy Reed is into play RF, Gary Sheffield moves from LF to RF. Frankie Rodriguez is on to pitch the 9th and hopefully maintain the 1-run deficit.

8:18pm: Jorge Posada pops one into the Bermuda Triangle in short centerfield. Alex Cora thinks Luis Castillo has it, Castillo thinks Cora has it, so both momentarily look at each other. Cora dives for the ball but can't make the play. Probably scored as a hit.

8:20pm: It is scored as a hit, the first since the 4th inning. Although earlier Joe Morgan said they hadn't had a hit since the 1st inning. WTF ESPN?!

8:21pm: Melky Cabrera grounds to 3B David Wright. He throws to 2B Luis Castillo, who throws to 1B but Cabrera is too fast to double off in this spot. 5-4 forceout. 1 out.

8;23pm: Melky Cabrera steals 2nd base. Santos makes a nice throw to Cora who makes a nice tag, but Cabrera beat it. Nice?

8:25pm: Brett Gardner takes a 3-2 pitch high and outside for a walk. Yankees with runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

8:30pm: Johnny Damon smokes a liner into RF but it's a damn good thing Jeremy Reed is there cause he's right on it for the out. Runners do not advance. 2 outs.

8:31pm: The situation is simple. 2 outs, runners on 1st and 2nd. Derek Jeter is up. If you walk Jeter, Mariano Rivera is going to bat, and... he doesn't bat. So either you walk Jeter and force Girardi to pinch-hit, or you just face Jeter. Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips think that facing Jeter is a huge mistake. I do too. They should force Girardi to do something with Rivera.

8:34pm: They're pitching to Jeter?! WTF?! Even Jeter doesn't get it. Frankie goes 2-1 before the IBB is called. That was a waste of 3 pitches.

8:35pm: Mariano Rivera is batting with bases loaded and 2 outs. Frankie can't fuck this up, can he?

8:36pm: Frankie goes 2-0 before catching up 2-2 on the count. Mariano has his bat on his shoulders all the way so far. Rivera swings and fouls one off.

8:37pm: Holy fuck. Frankie walks Mariano Rivera and Melky Cabrera scores from 3rd base. Yankees up 4-2. Unfuckingreal.

8:40pm: On a 3-2 count, Mark Teixeira checks his swing and thinks he's walking, but the 3rd base umpire says he swung and that's it. 3 outs. Yankees up 4-2.

Bottom of 9th Inning:

8:43pm: Mariano Rivera is still pitching, now facing the bottom of the order with Luis Castillo, Jeremy Reed and Daniel Murphy.

8:45pm: Luis Castillo grounds out to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 1 out.

8:47pm: Jeremy Reed strikes out looking. He was clearly overmatched by Mariano. 2 outs.

8:48pm: Daniel Murphy fists a base hit to LF to prolong the agony a little more. Alex Cora is up next, with David Wright after him. I hope Cora can somehow take a walk here.

8:49pm: Nope. He swung first pitch and grounded right to 2B Robinson Cano. 4-3. 3 outs. Fucking unreal.

GAME OVER - Yankees win 4-2

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What an absolute nightmare. Swept by the Yankees in 3 games in their own ballpark. Mariano Rivera gets his 500th career save along with his first RBI EVER. Chien-Ming Wang finally wins a fucking game.

Plenty of blame to go around tonight.

Daniel Murphy's fumfering in the 1st inning. He attempted to get Derek Jeter at 3rd base on a groundball, and it was close. But it was the wrong play. I won't kill him on that only because it was close, and it would've been great had he nailed him. However, dropping the ball on the Cano double play AND having your foot off the bag when neither of those things should have occurred.

Manager Jerry Manuel. Despite needing to make a couple of moves, having lefty Fernando Martinez face lefty Phil Coke in the 6th inning was a bad call. Martinez can't hit lefty pitching, and looked like a fucking joke doing so in this AB where he struck out at a ball at eye level. The right move was pinch-hitting for him using Nick Evans, and then either moving him into CF, or then putting Jeremy Reed into CF instead. I can understand not wanting to sub in 2 bench guys for one, but it had to be done, and Jerry didn't.

The other ridiculous managerial call was pitching to Derek Jeter in the 9th with Mariano Rivera on deck. Even Jeter thought this was retarded. Seriously! While ultimately the Mets lose the game either way, the fact that Jerry didn't call for the intentional pass to Jeter immediately was one of those huge "Is this guy for real?" moments. The only defense I can imagine Jerry Manuel might have for not walking Jeter initially was a reluctance to put Melky Cabrera on 3rd base, capable of scoring on any wild pitch or passed ball that got away from catcher Omir Santos.
Now, if you want to go with that defense, fine. Well, not fine, but... I get it. But then on a 2-1 pitch, he changes his mind and gives Jeter ball 4.

Frankie Rodriguez. Despite Cora and Castillo not figuring out who should make the catch on Jorge Posada's flyball into the Bermuda Triangle, he's given leadoff hits before and gotten out of jams. However, walking Brett Gardner couldn't happen here, and walking Mariano Rivera was unforgivable. The only saving grace was that they were already losing the game 3-2, so what's another run at that point?!! Still, tough to take.

So what now?

The team drops to 37-37, 3 games behind Philadelphia and further down into the murkiness of the wildcard race. Granted neither of those things really mean too much right now, but this team isn't even treading water anymore.

They're at .500, still sinking and it's June 28. July doesn't get any easier for this decimated team, as they go on the road to play 3 in Milwaukee, one make-up game in Pittsburgh, and then 3 in Philly which they HAVE to win by any means necessary or this season is over before they get to the All-Star break. Even if all the regular players (Delgado, Reyes, Beltran) make it back by August 1, they're likely going to have to win over 40 games in August-September, which is asking a helluva lot from any team.

The month of June isn't over yet, but despite the team's 19-9 turnaround in May, which honestly should've been closer to 22-6, the best the Mets can now hope for is to take the next two games against the Brewers and go up to a 11-16 record for the month of June. They went 9-12 in April.

The thing is, with so many key people out, making a deal for one player, even someone like an Adam Dunn for example (which won't happen, but for the sake of my point...) doesn't address the other needs the team has. So for the front office to go ahead and deal for players, it has to be significant, and that's going to likely require moving some valuable prospects in a deal. The Mets don't want to mortgage their future, nor should they.

But part of their future is hurting them right now, namely Fernando Martinez, who clearly isn't ready for the bigs, and maybe AAA isn't right for him either yet. But with no Carlos Beltran for a while, the team is in a pickle and then some.

I don't envy GM Omar Minaya right now, because you're truly in a bind right now. The team finally hit the .500 mark, there's no quick fix, you have no real idea who is coming back when. This makes for a strong possibility that the Mets would become sellers at the July 31 deadline, instead of buyers, depending on the way things go over the course of July. Then that begs the question, who would the Mets trade AWAY at that point? Well, if that happens, I'll address it in 30 days from now. Hopefully that doesn't come to be.

My All-Star Ballot

Jun 27, 2009
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Every year, MLB begins their All-Star game balloting near the end of April, which is far too early. I advocate for voting only after June 1, as you simply cannot elect players to the All-Star game based on less than one month of baseball.

This usually leads to uninformed voting by the baseball fans as it pertains to which players are elected as starters. While most players elected as starters are deserving, that's not always the case. Luckily the players and managers get to choose the pitchers and reserves.

Now that it's June 27, definitely late in the game, here's my rundown of the All-Star ballots and current voting totals:

American League: (vote totals as of June 21)

1st Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Mark Teixeira	Yankees	1,561,292
2.	Kevin Youkilis	Red Sox	1,525,660
3.	Justin Morneau	Twins	1,275,694
4.	Miguel Cabrera	Tigers	944,855
5.	Chris Davis	Rangers	632,895

Interesting numbers overall. Miguel Cabrera should probably be higher up in the vote totals than Kevin Youkilis, but any of these 4 choices are very respectable picks. Seattle's Russell Branyan is having a remarkable year and isn't in the top 5. He's certainly more deserving than Chris Davis. Tampa's Carlos Pena is a home run machine but his BA is too low.

My pick: Mark Teixeira (Yankees). Defense matters too, and Mark is the best defensive 1B in the game.

2nd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Ian Kinsler	Rangers	1,791,177
2.	Dustin Pedroia	Red Sox	1,732,787
3.	Robinson Cano	Yankees	1,062,863
4.	Aaron Hill	Blue Jays	775,200
5.	Placido Polanco	Tigers	660,693

The small-market playing Aaron Hill should be higher up in this race as well, though Ian Kinsler is certainly a respectable pick. Boston's Dustin Pedroia is not worthy of starting, and I'm not even sure he belongs on the team as a reserve either.

Tampa's Ben Zobrist is not on the list at all, probably because he wasn't on the original ballot. Since he's taken over for the injured-for-the-season Akinori Iwamura, Zobrist is having a phenomenal season and is just as deserving as anyone.

Robinson Cano doesn't deserve the nod this year. He's good, but not an All-Star in 2009. There's ZERO justification for Placido Polanco being in the top 5.

My pick: Ben Zobrist (Tampa Bay) as a write-in. I would also be fine with picking Aaron Hill or Ian Kinsler.

3rd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Evan Longoria	Rays	2,488,076
2.	Alex Rodriguez	Yankees	1,165,243
3.	Michael Young	Rangers	933,630
4.	Mike Lowell	Red Sox	890,138
5.	Brandon Inge	Tigers	535,226

Not surprisingly, this is a two-man race between A-Rod and Longoria, but the one player who isn't on this list who certainly deserves consideration, is the Angels' Chone Figgins. Figgins is currently 2nd in BA among all AL 3B, has 23 SB and is a fantastic leadoff guy. But Figgins has no power, which is why he'll never make the team as a starter.

So back to reality... A-Rod isn't hitting at a level worthy of election and he missed 6 weeks of the season. For him to be #2 on this list is a complete joke.

My Vote: Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay). I'm not even sure you can justify voting for anyone else above Longoria as a starter. Plenty of other good options for reserves (Figgins, Rolen, Lowell, Young) but Longoria is clearly heads and shoulders the best pick.

Shortstop
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Derek Jeter	Yankees	2,563,093
2.	Jason Bartlett	Rays	1,148,988
3.	Elvis Andrus	Rangers	844,349
4.	Marco Scutaro	Blue Jays	684,883
5.	Jed Lowrie	Red Sox	459,732

I think this shows how poor the AL depth is at SS this season, especially when you compare the depth at the position in the NL. Derek Jeter is the leader, and it's tough to argue against him this year, although Tampa's Jason Bartlett with just over 200 ABs, is hitting .363 and is outpacing Jeter in all other categories.

Elvis Andrus is really mediocre, while Toronto's Marco Scutaro is being overlooked. Jed Lowrie is clearly a joke pick by the Boston fans.

My Pick: Jason Bartlett (Tampa Bay). Can't ignore the numbers, but I can't say Jeter is a bad option for once.

Catcher
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Joe Mauer	Twins	2,298,544
2.	Jason Varitek	Red Sox	1,108,054
3.	Jorge Posada	Yankees	947,887
4.	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	Rangers	827,063
5.	Victor Martinez	Indians	754,571

This should really be a two-player race, period. Any other options are complete jokes, especially Jason Varitek. Oh those hilarious Boston fans, always trying to elect goof picks to the game.

There are only two options here. Joe Mauer, and Victor Martinez. There's no rationale for anyone else.

My Pick: Joe Mauer (Minnesota). The premiere catcher in baseball. While both Mauer and Martinez have 14 HRs as of today, Mauer has done it with a lot less ABs and is hitting JUUUUUST a smidge under .400.

RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Jason Bay	Red Sox	2,077,504
2.	Ichiro Suzuki	Mariners	1,455,266
3.	Josh Hamilton	Rangers	1,385,212
4.	Torii Hunter	Angels	1,186,097
5.	Carl Crawford	Rays	1,172,241
6.	Jacoby Ellsbury	Red Sox	1,051,270
7.	Johnny Damon	Yankees	1,021,394
8.	Ken Griffey Jr.	Mariners	1,009,584
9.	Nelson Cruz	Rangers	956,294
10.	Adam Jones	Orioles	894,664
11.	J.D. Drew	Red Sox	818,459
12.	Nick Markakis	Orioles	756,316
13.	Curtis Granderson	Tigers	641,102
14.	Grady Sizemore	Indians	626,014
15.	Bobby Abreu	Angels	614,244

Picking outfielders for the All-Star game can sometimes be tricky cause you're not voting for LF, CF, RF. You're voting for the 3 outfielders who have been the best in the game, and sometimes centerfielders aren't an option. That's not the case this year.

First, examining the fan voting so far... Josh Hamilton wasn't exactly having a great year to begin with, has been on the DL twice, and that's where he is currently. Even if he makes it to the team, I don't think he's healthy enough to play.

How Ken Griffey Jr. can be on this list, well, fans are fucking dumb. Granted it's only #8, but Chicago's Jermaine Dye doesn't even make the list?

My picks: Jason Bay (Boston), Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle), Torii Hunter (Los Angeles) Since Hamilton won't play, it looks like my top choices will actually be in line with the fan totals.

Now, to the pitching staffs, which are not chosen by the fans, but I'll list my 12 picks anyways.

Starting Pitchers:

Zack Greinke (Kansas City) - STARTER

Roy Halladay (Toronto)

Edwin Jackson (Detroit)

Kevin Millwood (Texas)
Jered Weaver (Los Angeles)

Felix Hernandez (Seattle)

Relief Pitchers:

Jonathan Papelbon (Boston)

Mariano Rivera (New York)

Joe Nathan (Minnesota)

David Aardsma (Seattle)

George Sherrill (Baltimore)
Brian Fuentes (Los Angeles)

National League: (vote totals as of June 22)

1st Base
RANK PLAYER NAME NL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Albert Pujols Cardinals 2,934,794
2. Ryan Howard Phillies 1,393,546
3. Prince Fielder Brewers 1,155,529
4. Adrian Gonzalez Padres 894,600
5. Lance Berkman Astros 512,879

If you vote for anyone other than Albert Pujols, you should probably be punched in the face until you are dead. But if you MUST vote for someone other than Prince Albert, then the only real other options are Prince Fielder and Adrian Gonzales. Ryan Howard whiffs far too often and doesn't have the BA to warrant the vote.

My Pick: Albert Pujols (St. Louis). DUH!

2nd Base
RANK PLAYER NAME NL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Chase Utley Phillies 2,922,796
2. Orlando Hudson Dodgers 1,082,248
3. Rickie Weeks Brewers 832,870
4. Skip Schumaker Cardinals 729,722
5. Dan Uggla Marlins 475,372
If you vote for anyone other than Chase Utley, you should probably be punched in the face until you are dead. What I'm trying to say is that at 1B and 2B, the NL starters are no-brainers. There's Chase Utley, and then there's everyone else.

However, the one person not making the top 5 who probably should, is Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez. especially since Rickie Weeks is out for the year. Skip Schumaker is obviously getting a hometown vote, but he's not really deserving. Dan Uggla has become a feast-or-famine power guy. So his HR totals are up with Utley's, but the rest of his hitting is not.

My pick: Chase Utley (Philadelphia)

3rd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	NL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	David Wright	Mets	1,698,366
2.	Ryan Zimmerman	Nationals	1,148,054
3.	Chipper Jones	Braves	1,104,485
4.	Pedro Feliz	Phillies	954,945
5.	Bill Hall	Brewers	842,295

It's tough to pick against David Wright here, as he leads the entire NL in BA, and also leads all 3B in stolen bases. His power numbers are down, his strikeout numbers are up.

Probably the most surprising thing about the current vote tallies for this position is that there are a bunch of players deserving of votes who aren't in the top 5. Casey Blake of the Dodgers, Mark Reynolds of Arizona, Pablo Sandoval of San Francisco. It's probably not a coincidence that all 3 of them are in the NL West, but all 3 are certainly more deserving of a spot than Bill Hall or Pedro Feliz.

My pick: David Wright (New York)

Shortstop
RANK	PLAYER NAME	NL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Hanley Ramirez	Marlins	1,648,482
2.	Jimmy Rollins	Phillies	1,494,466
3.	J.J. Hardy	Brewers	1,051,309
4.	Miguel Tejada	Astros	834,754
5.	Jose Reyes	Mets	754,579

You can't justify voting for Jose Reyes anymore since he's been on the DL for a good portion of the season and no one knows when he's coming back. It definitely won't be in time for the All-Star game.

Nor can you justify voting for Jimmy Rollins here, who is having an abysmal season hitting .211 as of today. The fact that he's getting any votes is truly sad. JJ Hardy is just as bad. Washington's Cristian Guzman should be in the top 5 instead.

This vote really comes down to two players. Hanley Ramirez, and Miguel Tejada.

My Pick: Hanley Ramirez (Florida). The power numbers are overwhelming, although Tejada should certainly make the team as a reserve.

Catcher
RANK	PLAYER NAME	NL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Yadier Molina	Cardinals	1,496,285
2.	Brian McCann	Braves	1,180,312
3.	Ivan Rodriguez	Astros	1,002,882
4.	Jason Kendall	Brewers	995,633
5.	Carlos Ruiz	Phillies	980,164

Clearly the weakest position in all of the NL. Yadier Molina is the best defensive catcher of the bunch, but Brian McCann has the bat which Yadier does not. The other Molina brother, Bengie, should certainly be in the top 5. How the hell can anyone vote for Jason Kendall or Carlos Ruiz?

My pick: Brian McCann (Atlanta)

Outfield
RANK PLAYER NAME NL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Raul Ibanez Phillies 2,465,539
2. Ryan Braun Brewers 2,178,144
3. Carlos Beltran Mets 1,779,344
4. Alfonso Soriano Cubs 1,639,664
5. Shane Victorino Phillies 1,371,362
6. Manny Ramirez Dodgers 1,162,507
7. Mike Cameron Brewers 1,140,167
8. Rick Ankiel Cardinals 1,011,527
9. Jayson Werth Phillies 1,008,256
10. Corey Hart Brewers 959,614
11. Ryan Ludwick Cardinals 950,662
12. Adam Dunn Nationals 742,515
13. Matt Kemp Dodgers 673,979
14. Andre Ethier Dodgers 642,983
15. Justin Upton D-backs 594,185

This is interesting. While Carlos Beltran should definitely make the All-Star team, he's not going to be healthy enough to play, as he went on the DL just a week ago.

Raul Ibanez is also on the DL but he'll be back shortly. He's a no-brainer as far as the voting goes. Ryan Braun is an excellent second choice, so now who would the third best option be? Definitely not Alfonso Soriano. If I'm strictly picking a backup CF, either Michael Bourne of the Houston Astros or Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies would be my choices. Matt Kemp of the Dodgers isn't a bad pick for CF but he does whiff a lot.

However, I'm looking to elect the best 3 outfielders, period. And somehow my third pick isn't even in the top 15, which is completely absurd considering who DID make the list and shouldn't have.

My picks: Raul Ibanez (Philadelphia), Ryan Braun (Milwaukee), Brad Hawpe (Colorado).

And now to the 12 pitching choices, though again, it's not up to the fans.

Starting Pitchers:

Tim Lincecum (San Francisco) - STARTER

Dan Haren (Arizona)

Matt Cain (San Francisco)

Javier Vasquez (Atlanta)

Josh Johnson (Florida)

Yovani Gallardo (Milwaukee)

Relief Pitchers:

Frankie Rodriguez (New York)

Heath Bell (San Diego)

Trevor Hoffman (Milwaukee)

Ryan Franklin (St. Louis)
Jonathan Broxton (Los Angeles)

Francisco Cordero (Cincinnati)

Now, it should be said that a lot can change in a week from now. Players can get injured. Someone may end up being more well-deserving that was overlooked, so I may do another ballot in a week from now if things change drastically.

LIVEBLOGGING - New York Mets vs. New York Yankees - 6/14/09

Jun 14, 2009
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It's an afternoon matinee (or on the West Coast, morning baseball) between the Mets and Yankees. The rubber game between the injury-riddled Mets and the steroid-riddled Yankees. These two teams will meet again in less than 2 weeks, next time at CitiField, the very antithesis of the home run launching pad that is the new Yankee Stadium.

Today's pitching matchup features Mets ace Johan Santana, 4-1 in 7 starts with a 3.15 lifetime ERA against the Yankees. Opposing him will be AJ Burnett, 2-6 in 16 starts, 3.83 lifetime ERA against the Mets. Most of those starts came while with Burnett was with the Florida Marlins between 1999-2005.

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(All times Pacific)

Top of 1st Inning:

10:11am: Nick Swisher makes a fantastic running catch in RF to prevent a leadoff double from Alex Cora. While stopping his momentum at the RF wall, he jumps on top of a pad above a scoreboard, knocking it off the wall, and the "Mets' scoreboard sign there goes off-kilter as well. That'll certainly be highlight fodder if the Mets should lose this game. 1 out.

10:12am: Fernando Martinez hits a soft line drive into CF which is easily caught by Melky Cabrera. 2 outs.

10:14am: Carlos Beltran strikes out looking against AJ Burnett. 3 up, 3 down.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

10:17am: Derek Jeter plunks the first pitch he sees from Santana into RF for a leadoff single.

10:20am: Johnny Damon strikes out swinging at a 2-2 changeup which also happens to be a beautiful strike, swung on or not. 1 out. That's the 92nd K for Johan this season.

10:22am: Mark Teixeira skies out to 2B Luis Castillo, who uses BOTH hands to squeeze the catch. The Bronx crowd makes a lotta noise to distract him, but Castillo makes the catch to the disappointment of the Yankee scumbags. 2 outs.

10:23am: Alex Rodriguez lines out to SS Alex Cora. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:

10:27am: David Wright watches a 2-2 curveball go right by him and he knew he struck out before the ump called it. 1 out.

10:28am: Ryan Church grounds a ball right up the middle past the mound but Derek Jeter, slightly shifted over towards 2nd base for Church, fields it easily and throws to 1st for the out. 2 outs.

10:29am: Gary Sheffield strikes out check-swinging at a pitch way outside. Terrible AB by Sheffield. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:

10:33am: Robinson Cano hits a leadoff double into the left-centerfield gap.

10:36am: Nick Swisher skies out to CF Carlos Beltran, but Cano tags up to 3rd base easily, especially since Beltran's throw is so off-target, and SS Alex Cora has to make the stop north of the 3rd base bag. 1 out.

10:37am: The Mets infield is playing in against lefty Hideki Matsui hoping to prevent Cano from scoring.

10:39am: Johan Santana walks Hideki Matsui on a 3-1 count. It didn't look like he was giving him much to swing at to begin with. This does set up the double play if he can induce Melky Cabrera.

10:41am: Johan is not looking as sharp as normal. Cabrera is hitting some balls hard but foul, and some of his pitches are looking too high in the zone.

10:42am: Johan goes full count on Melky Cabrera.

10:43am: Johan strikes out Melky Cabrera swinging at a 3-2 inside changeup which was ball 4, but looked good enough. 2 outs.

10:45am: Francisco Cervelli bloops a low outside pitch for a single into RF that scores Robinson Cano and moves Matsui over to 2nd base. Yankees up 1-0.

10:48am: Derek Jeter cranks a 3-2 pitch into LF for a single. Fernando Martinez in LF makes a terrible throw to the plate which misses the mark up the first base line and Santana has to back it up. Cervelli to 3rd. Jeter to 2nd on the throw, but there's no error charged as he's going to 2nd base either way. Yankees up 2-0.

10:50am: Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen has a little conference on the mound with Santana.

10:52am: Johnny Damon singles into LF scoring both Francisco Cervelli and Derek Jeter. Fernando Martinez throws towards home but the throw is cut off by David Wright at the mound who throws to Alex Cora in order to get Johnny Damon at 2nd. Damon gets caught in the rundown. Cora throws back to Murphy, Murphy throws back to Cora who drops the ball because Johnny Damon pulled an A-Roid glove swat which means he's out. I was about to throw a fucking fit when I saw Cora drop the ball but then saw on replay that Damon's left arm was responsible for Cora dropping the ball. Yankees do score 2 runs on the play, so it's 4-0 Yankees. 3 outs.

10:53am: Johan is looking worse and worse with each pitch. He's gotta settle down fast.

Top of 3rd Inning:

10:57am: Daniel Murphy works out a leadoff walk out of AJ Burnett.

10:58am: Yankees pitching coach Dave Allen has a conference on the mound since Burnett is now behind on Brian Schneider with a 2-0 count.

10:59am: Brian Schneider hits a nice seeing-eye grounder past a diving Mark Teixeira into RF. Daniel Murphy goes 1st to 3rd on the play. Luis Castillo is up now and a double play is not an acceptable outcome, even with no out.

11:02am: AJ Burnett goes full count on Luis Castillo before walking him. Bases now loaded for the Mets with 0 outs.

Normally that's a good thing, but for the Mets, bases loaded situations is kryptonite.

11:06am: Alex Cora checks his swing at a shit low inside pitch but the 3rd-base ump calls him out. Replay shows he did not go. Jerry Manuel isn't happy with that call. Nor should he be. 1 out.

11:08am: Fernando Martinez strikes out swinging. This guy is not ready for the bigs by any stretch.

11:10am: The Mets continue to be completely futile with bases loaded. Carlos Beltran lines out to Derek Jeter to end the inning. Absolutely ridiculous. 3 outs.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:

11:13am: Mark Teixeira lines out to CF Carlos Beltran. 1 out.

11:14am: Dan Warthen is talking with TBS announcers Chip Caray and Buck Martinez. Warthen doesn't think Johan is looking too good so far. Lack of command, high pitch count, etc. Well, at least he knows what we all can see. This isn't the best of Santana by any stretch.

11:15am: Alex Rodriguez strikes out swinging. 2 outs.

11:16am: Robinson Cano grounds out meekly to 1B Daniel Murphy. Santana finally gets a 1-2-3 inning. 3 outs.

Top of 4th Inning:

11:19am: David Wright hits a seeing-eye grounder on the right side into RF for a leadoff single.

11:22am: Burnett gets Ryan Church to strike out at a wicked curveball that Buck Martinez says was a slider. Sure dropped like a curve to me. 1 out.

11:24am: With Gary Sheffield at the plate, AJ Burnett throws a wild pitch in the dirt that gets away from Yankee catcher Francisco Cervelli. David Wright take 2nd base on the WP. Sheffield should be taking as much as he can considering most of Burnett's pitches LOOK appetizing but still have a lot of drop to them.

11:25am: On a 3-2 count, AJ Burnett throws an inside fastball that Gary Sheffield lays off of and takes a walk. Burnett's fastball is still mid-90's velocity but it's probably the best pitch to hit. Unfortunately not a lot of Met hitters can catch up to it.

11:27am: Daniel Murphy does exactly what he shouldn't do by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play. Sheffield with a nice hard slide at Derek Jeter but Jeter leaps and still makes the throw to complete the play. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 outs.

Bottom of 4th Inning:

11:31am: Nick Swisher takes a leadoff walk from Johan Santana.

11:32am: Hideki Matsui blasts a pitch up in the zone into the RF bleachers for a 2-run homer. Yankees up 6-0.

11:35am: Melky Cabrera doubles into the right-centerfield gap. CF Carlos Beltran makes a weak throw to 2nd base.

11:36am: TBS shows a graphic of Johan's first 7 starts in which he posted a 0.78 ERA. Next 6 starts? A 5.75 ERA, and it's gonna go higher after today's game.

11:37am: Francisco Cervelli hits a grounder on the right side which is fielder by 1B Daniel Murphy, but Murphy's throw to Santana is a very high lob which Santana catches but Cervelli beats the throw. Cabrera moves over to 3rd base without a problem.

11:39am: Derek Jeter hits a hard line shot at SS Alex Cora who can't come up with the ball and it goes into short LF. Cora grabs the ball, and Cabrera scores easily. Cervelli goes to 2nd base on the play. Yankees now up 7-0 and that's all for Johan Santana, who looked absolutely awful today.

11:43am: Brian Stokes is into relieve Johan Santana. Unfortunately the Yankee hit parade continues as Johnny Damon hits a double down the leftfield line that scores Francisco Cervelli easily. Yankees now up 8-0. Still 0 out. This game has quickly gotten repugnant.

11:44am: Mark Teixeira hits a swinging tapper back at the 3rd base side of the mound which Brian Stokes fields cleanly, looks Jeter back to 3rd but slips. He still throws to 1st but Tex is safe at 1st, and Murphy has to play hockey goalie in stopping the ball. And now A-Roid is up. Great.

11:46am: A-Rod lines out to SS Alex Cora who nearly turns a triple play. The ball bounces in front of Cora, who tags out Johnny Damon right off 2nd base. Cora then steps on 2nd base and throws onto 1st base, but A-Rod made it safely. Double play though Jeter scores. Yankees now up 9-0 in the 4th. 2 outs.

11:48am: Robinson Cano goes yard with a 2-run bomb to RF. Yankees now up 11-0.

11:49am: The Yankees have now batted around with Nick Swisher at the plate.

11:50am: Brian Stokes isn't looking any better than Santana. He gives Nick Swisher a free pass to 1st base.

11:51am: Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen holds a conference on the mound.

11:52am: Brian Stokes gives another free pass, this one to Hideki Matsui on 4 straight balls.

11:53am: And then Melky Cabrera hits a shot that bounces off the RF-wall for a double that scores another 2 runs. Cabrera tried to make it a triple but gets thrown out. 3 outs. Yankees now up 13-0. Someone shoot me?

11:55am: Final line for Johan Santana today: 3 Innings, 9 ER, 9 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts. His ERA jumps up to 3.29. One has to wonder if he's still worthy of making the NL All-Star team the way he's been pitching lately.

Top of 5th Inning:

11:58am: Brian Schneider grounds out meekly to 1B Mark Teixeira. 1 out.

11:59am: Luis Castillo slaps a ball at 3B Alex Rodriguez who throws to 1st for the out. 2 outs.

12:00pm: Alex Cora checks a swing at strike 3 and is called out. The ball gets away from Cervelli. Cora is busy arguing so Cervelli gets the ball, tags out Cora who doesn't run. Normally one would be all over Cora for not running to 1st, but down 13-0... he might as well argue. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

12:04pm: Francisco Cervelli leads off with a single to leftfield.

12:05pm: Derek Jeter ropes a single to centerfield. No more Stokes please?

12:08pm: Brian Stokes strikes out Johnny Damon with a questionable but consistently called low strike. 1 out.

12:10pm: Brian Stokes strikes out Mark Teixeira. 2 outs. Maybe Stokes finally settled down?

12:11pm: Alex Rodriguez launches a deep flyball to CF Carlos Beltran, who makes the catch for the 3rd out. Thankfully.

Top of 6th Inning:

12:15pm: Fernando Martinez lines out to LF Johnny Damon. 1 out.

12:16pm: Carlos Beltran lines a ball into CF for a single. Hooray offense?

12:19pm: David Wright thinks he's taking a 3-2 walk to 1st but the umpire calls the consistent low strike 3. David Wright argues a bit, and he rarely argues. 2 outs. Mets manager Jerry Manuel comes out seeing how pissed David Wright is, and he's rarely pissed. Home plate ump throws Jerry out of the game.

12:20pm: Ryan Church hits a flyball to CF Melky Cabrera. 3 outs.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

12:23pm: Jon Switzer is on in relief of Brian Stokes. Wilson Valdez replaces Luis Castillo at 2nd base. Fernando Tatis is in at 3rd base in place of David Wright. Jeremy Reed is now in CF in place of Carlos Beltran.

12:24pm: Robinson Cano hits a shot to centerfield that bounces up against the CF wall for a leadoff double. This is now just a game of bullpen experimentation for the Mets considering the anal raping they're experiencing. Which reliever will suck the least?

12:27pm: Nick Swisher skies out to LF Fernando Martinez who just can't seem to be bothered using two hands for pop flies. 2 outs.

12:29pm: Hideki Matsui sharply grounds out to Daniel Murphy, who tosses onto Switzer at first for the out. Robinson Cano moves to 3rd on the play. 2 outs.

12:30pm: Melky Cabrera hits a swinging bunt right back to pitcher Jon Switzer, 1-3 for the easy out. 3 outs.

Top of 7th Inning:

12:34pm: Defensive changes for the Skanks. Brett Gardner in at CF, Melky Cabrera moves over to RF, Nick Swisher moves over to 1B, so Mark Teixeira takes the rest of the game off. Angel Berroa replaces Alex Rodriguez at 3B and Ramiro Pena replaces Derek Jeter at SS.

12:35pm: Gary Sheffield hits a chopper off the plate which is fielded on the 3rd base side of the mound by AJ Burnett, but he throws the ball past 1B Nick Swisher, so Sheffield takes 2nd base. That SHOULD be scored an E1 on the throw.

12:36pm: It's scored a hit for Sheffield AND an error on Burnett since Sheffield went to 2nd on the errant throw.

12:37pm: Daniel Murphy takes a walk. 1st and 2nd for the Mets, 0 out. Brian Schneider up.

12:39pm: Brian Schneider hits a high fly ball into RF, but into the glove of RF Melky Cabrera. 1 out.

12:40pm: Jeremy Reed grounds up the middle but it's fielded by SS Ramiro Pena who makes a pretty flip to 2B Robinson Cano and throws to 1B Nick Swisher to complete the 6-4-3 DP. 3 outs.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

12:45pm: The sun has come out in the Bronx, and Yankee Stadium is a whole shade brighter.

12:46pm: Francisco Cervelli flies out to RF Ryan Church who makes a nice running catch. 1 out.

12:48pm: Angel Berroa is hit by a pitch and takes 1st base.

12:49pm: An announced crowd of 47,943. I believe that's 3 straight NON-sellouts for this series. Still very large crowds at this ballpark though.

12:50pm: Johnny Damon walks. Angel Berroa moves to 2nd base.

12:52pm: Brett Gardner takes a walk too, and Switzer is looking pretty bad after looking good for 1 inning. Bases loaded now, and Ken Takahashi is warming up in the bullpen. At some point, maybe Daniel Murphy should pitch.

12:53pm: Ramiro Pena scalds one up the middle which actually deflects off of 2nd base towards SS Alex Cora for an infield hit that scores Angel Berroa. Yankees now up 14-0. Acting manager Sandy Alomar Jr. has seen enough from Switzer, and it's Takahashi time. Unfortunately, bases are still loaded for the Skanks.

12:57pm: Robinson Cano hits a deep shot to the right-center warning track. CF Jeremy Reed catches the ball but Johnny Damon scores on the sac fly. 15-0 Yankees. 2 outs.

1:00pm: Nick Swisher grounds out to SS Alex Cora. 6-3. 3 outs.

Top of 8th Inning:

1:03pm: David Robertson is in to relieve AJ Burnett.

1:04pm: SS Alex Cora pops out to 3B Angel Berroa. 1 out.

1:05pm: Final line for Yankee starter AJ Burnett, in line for his 2nd home win of the season... 7 Innings, 4 hits, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K.

1:06pm: Fernando Martinez strikes out looking. The Mets HAVE to send Martinez back to Buffalo after the series against Baltimore. It's so obvious that the guy isn't ready for the bigs, and he refuses to use two hands in the outfield when making catches on pop flies. 2 outs.

1:08pm: Fernando Tatis strikes out swinging. 1-2-3 inning for David Robertson. 3 outs. Mets suck.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

1:11pm: Ken Takahashi strikes out Hideki Matsui on an 89 MPH fastball that Gojira can't make contact with. 1 out.

1:12pm: Melky Cabrera takes a free pass walk to first.

1:14pm: Francisco Cervelli grounds out to Ken Takahashi, 1-3 for the out. Cabrera to 2nd on the play.

1:16pm: Angel Berroa flies out to CF Jeremy Reed. Reed uses BOTH HANDS to make the catch. Fernando Martinez might learn something. 3 outs.

Top of 9th Inning:

1:17pm: RALLY TIME METS!!!! Maybe not, Phil Hughes is on to pitch the 9th for the Skanks.

1:18pm: Wilson Valdez lines a single into CF for a leadoff hit. Let the rally begin!!!!

1:22pm: Ryan Church strikes out looking. 1 out.

1:23pm: Gary Sheffield hits a grounder to 3B Angel Berroa, who seems to cut off SS Ramiro Pena on the play. He throws onto 2nd base but Valdez makes it in safely.

1:26pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging. 2 outs.

1:28pm: Brian Schneider foul pops out to catcher Francisco Cervelli. 3 outs.

Game over. Yankees win 15-0.

--------------------------------------------------------

What did we learn today kids?

For all of the emotion that Frankie showed in his little on-field confrontation with Brian Bruney today, it didn't mean shit when it came to the Mets playing the game. Further proof that "grit and fire and toughness and emotion and BLAH BLAH BLAH" is completely overrated bullshit. It doesn't matter how gritty and tough you are. Can you beat the other team or not? Some games you will, some games you won't. End of story.

Fernando Martinez HAS to go back to Buffalo soon. He can't hit, he can't or refuses to make two-handed catches.

Johan Santana had the worst start of his entire career. He didn't have good command of his fastball, and he was leaving pitches up in the zone. Some say his velocity is down. Santana's ERA over his last 7 starts is above 6 now. It's terrible.

Was this game worse than the Luis Castillo game on Friday? To me, it's apples and oranges.

Losing 15-0 to anyone, sucks.
Losing 15-0 to the Yankees, sucks more.
Losing 15-0 when Johan Santana has the worst start of his entire career, sucks the most.

Castillo's dropped fly ball should've ended the game, but instead it lost it in embarrassing fashion. But Johan Santana lost the game just by stepping onto the mound today. I know some might say that the Yankees didn't so much win Friday as the Mets LOST big time, but when your ace gives up 9 earned runs in 3 innings, it's pretty much the same.

In any case, one hopes that the upcoming road series against the lowly Baltimore Orioles gives this team a chance to turn their fortunes around before things get out of hand. A team that isn't contending by the end of June is usually in deep shit.

What a difference a day makes. Mets vs. Yankees Saturday game - 6/13/09

Jun 13, 2009
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Not even 24 hours after one of the most crushing Met losses of the season thanks to 2B Luis Castillo dropping a pop fly ball where the Yankees then scored 2 runs to win the game in the most unfortunate and soul-sucking torturous manner we've seen in a long time...

The Mets turned it around and beat the New York Skankees by a final of 6-2.

The keys to the game?

Fernando Nieve - A waiver pickup that the Mets grabbed from Houston back in spring training and he pitched well in Binghamton and Buffalo before coming up to replace John Maine who just went on the DL with a dead arm. Nieve hadn't had a major league start since 2006.

Nieve, who no one expected anything from today, all but handing the victory to the Yankees before a pitch was thrown, shut the Yankees down through 6.2 innings. He gave up 4 hits, 2 ER (1 was Alex Rodriguez flyball to LF that just kept carrying out of the yard), 2 BB, 2 K, and a hit batsmen in A-Roid.

Omir Santos - A 2-run HR to leftfield off of Andy Pettite in the 2nd inning gave the Mets the first lead of the game. Santos went 2-for-5 with 3 RBI, and more importantly, called a great game behind the plate.

Gary Sheffield - Gary is rumored to have some problems behind his knee, which is going to keep him in the DH spot through this and the upcoming Baltimore series, and he may need an MRI on the knee to see if there's any damage. All that being said, he pounded another homer in Yankee Stadium today, and also drove in Carlos Beltran in the 5th inning on a single to RF.

Sean Green - Despite a horrific April, Green is turning into the solid reliever we really needed, especially with the injury to Putz. Green gave up the hit to Derek Jeter that scored the 2nd Yankee run which was charged to Nieve, but that groundball was fielded nicely by 2B Luis Castillo whose throw to 1st was JUUUST beaten out by Jeter, and Melky Cabrera scored on the play. Next batter Johnny Damon grounded out hard to 1B Fernando Tatis. Green then pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning. Green hasn't been charged with an earned run in his last 12.1 IP. He's just gotta be able to handle inherited runners a bit better, but today he definitely did his job.

Every Met had at least one hit in the game, 7 of them had 2 hits or more. The team had 17 hits on the day, with 12 of them coming off of Andy Pettite. Luis Castillo didn't make a huge impact today but like the team, he rebounded from yesterday's heartbreaker and had 2 hits of his own, raising his BA to .281.

Oh yes, and now there's this little mess between Frankie Rodriguez and Yankee reliever Brian "Big Mouth" Bruney.

K-Rod, Bruney trade barbs over antics

The shitkicker is that Bruney doesn't like Frankie because of a game between the A's and Angels back in 2005 where Frankie acted like a baby and the Angels lost the game when a ball thrown back to him by catcher Jose Molina got away from Rodriguez and the Angels lost the game.

Keep in mind that:

A) This was 4 years ago when he was 23. Rodriguez has matured since then.

B) Bruney was pitching for Arizona at the time, so why is he so offended

C) Frankie's post-save "celebrations" when he points to the sky is a dedication to his deceased grandfather, who meant a great deal to him when Frankie was growing up. If batters can celebrate after a walk-off win by jumping around with his team at home plate, why can't a closer do a little celebrating of his own when he gets the job done? That goes for any closer, not just K-Rod.

But that's fine, because this story may just push Luis Castillo's error on Friday night to the backburner and perhaps get Met fans to focus their anger upon Big-Mouth Bruney instead of Luis Castillo.

Tomorrow's finale of the Mets-Yankees series pits Johan Santana against AJ Burnett at 10am PST which is a national game on TBS. Because of that, I will be liveblogging the game as it happens tomorrow morning.

LIVEBLOGGING: New York Mets vs New York Skankees. 6/29/08

Jun 29, 2008
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A Sunday morning game on TBS means it's a Mets-Yankees game I actually get to see. That's pretty damn rare these days as I haven't the slightest idea when the Mets will be on national TV again. And they sure ain't coming to California again for the rest of the season unless they AND the Dodgers or Giants or Padres somehow miraculously make the playoffs.

But I'll take the few games I can watch and try to enjoy. With Oliver Perez on the mound for the Mets, the "try" part may prove difficult.

One thing I HAVE grown a bit tired of when watching the highlights of the last couple of games recently, is shots of little kids together. One wearing a Met hat, one wearing a Yankee hat, and the two kids are BEST FRIENDS! Fuck that, you can't be friends with the enemy! You have to bludgeon them with a bat! Even at age 7.

Tell little Antonio that the douchebag next to him wearing a Derek Jeter t-shirt stole his iPod, and watch the havoc ensue.

Onto the game!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Top of 1st Inning:

10:11am: Johnny Damon goes down swinging. 1 out.

10:13am: On the off chance that Oliver Perez ends up pitching wildly today, I'd at least like him to hit Yankee batters in the face with the ball. Especially Derek fucking Jeter.

10:14am: Derek Jeter grounds out sharply to 2B Luis Castillo, 4-3. 2 out.

10:15am: Alex Rodriguez fouls out to 1B Carlos Delgado. 3 out.

Bottom of 1st Inning:

10:17am: Jose Reyes lines a 0-1 pitch into short rightfield for a leadoff single.

10:18am: Luis Castillo squares to bunt but pulls back at the last second. Jose Molina can't catch the ball and it goes to the backstop. Jose Reyes takes 2nd on the Passed Ball.

10:21am: Luis Castillo fails to bunt or even make contact as he watches strike 3 go by him on the outside corner. 1 out.

10:22am: David Wright hits a long long flyball to deep right-centerfield, but RF Justin Christian pulls it down just in front of the wall. Jose Reyes tags up to 3rd. 2 out.

10:25am: Carlos Beltran walks. Runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 out.

10:26am: Jose Reyes is dancing off 3rd to a ridiculous degree.

10:27am: With Carlos Beltran running on the 0-1 pitch, Carlos Delgado flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. 3 out.

Top of 2nd Inning:

10:31am: Jorge Posada strikes out. 1 out.

10:34am: Wilson Betemit strikes out swinging. 2 out.

10:36am: Melky Cabrera groundsout to SS Jose Reyes, 6-3. 3 out.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:

10:39am: Ryan Church returns!!! And now endless second-guessing about the concussion handling resumes...

10:40am: Ryan Church lines out to 1B Jorge Posada. 1 out.

10:42am: Endy Chavez hits a ball into the shallow right-centerfield Bermuda Triangle that no one can get to. Chavez on 1st with a single.

10:44am: Brian Schneider hits a groundball between 1st and 2nd for a single. Chavez to 2nd base.

10:45am: Oliver Perez lays down a sac bunt towards 3rd. Alex Rodriguez fields it and throws to Posada at 1B for the 2nd out. Schneider and Chavez move up a base.

10:46am: TBS lets us know that Yankees pitcher Darrell Rasner's has an 0-3, 10.93 ERA over his last 3 road games.

10:47am: Jose Reyes takes an intentional unintentional walk to load up the bases.

10:51am: Luis Castillo works a full count from Rasner and hits a chopper up the middle for one of his patented infield singles. Derek Jeter makes a nice play and throws to Posada at 1B but Castillo beats the throw. Endy Chavez scores. Mets up 1-0. Bases loaded for David Wright with 2 out.

10:54am: David Wright grounds out to 3B Alex Rodriguez, who runs to third base for the out before Jose Reyes gets there. 3 out.

Top of 3rd Inning:

10:59am: Jose Molina strikes out swinging. 1 out.

11:00am: Justin Christian pops out to 1B Carlos Delgado. 2 out.

11:02am: Pitcher Darrell Rasner strikes out looking. 3 out.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:

11:05am: Ron Darling reminds us that no Met has ever pitched a no-hitter. *sigh*

11:06am: Carlos Beltran pops up to 2B Wilson Betemit. 1 out.

11:09am: Carlos Delgado hits a mammoth HR just to the right of the Apple, which hits off the scoreboard. 2-0 Mets.

11:10am: Ryan Church hits a flyball into shallow LF that SS Derek Jeter cannot get to. Church on 1st with a single.

11:12am: With Ryan Church running on the pitch, Endy Chavez hits a 3-1 chopper right down to 1B Jorge Posada, who steps on the bag for the out. 2 out.

11:14am: Brian Schneider is intentionally walked so Darrell Rasner can face Oliver Perez.

11:16am: Oliver Perez strikes out swinging. 3 out.

Top of 4th Inning:

11:20am: The lights are on at Shea with darkening skies and the threat of rain looming.

11:21am: Johnny Damon strikes out. That's 6 K's in 4 IP. 1 out.

11:22am: Derek Fucking Jeter breaks up the perfect game with a basehit to RF.

11:23am: Oliver Perez throws a Wild PItch that gets past C Brian Schneider, although it probably was a ball Schneider should have handled. Derek Jeter to 2nd on the WP.

11:24am: Alex Rodriguez hits a MONSTER moonshot foul into the mezzanine level. Perez better not give him another one like that.

11:25am: Perez is taking it to A-Rod in this battle. It's a full count and A-Rod is fighting pitches off. A light rain has begun in Flushing.

11:27am: Perez wins the battle by blowing one by A-Rod that he can't catch up to. 7 strikeouts for Perez. 2 out.

11:29am: Jorge Posada grounds out to 2B Luis Castillo. 4-3. 3 out.

Bottom of 4th Inning:

11:33am: Jose Reyes grounds out to SS Derek Jeter. 6-3. 1 out.
The rain is getting heavier. The Mets need to get through the top 5 of this game, as the thunderstorms forecast in the area may be too much for a simple "delay."

11:34am: Luis Castillo squibs a single down the leftfield line.

11:35am: David Wright flies out to RF Justin Christian. 2 out.

11:36am: Carlos Beltran strikes out swinging at slop. 3 out.

Top of 5th Inning:

11:44am: Wilson Betemit hits a 3-2 fastball directly at 3B David Wright for a lineout. 1 out.

11:45am: Melky Cabrera strikes out swinging. 2 out.

11:46am: Jose Molina flies out to LF Endy Chavez. 3 out.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

11:51am: Carlos Delgado hits a couple of hard balls foul, but ultimately foul pops out to C Jose Molina. 1 out.

11:52am: Ryan Church grounds out to 2B Wilson Betemit. 4-3. 2 out.

11:53am: Endy Chavez lines a single to RF.

11:57am: Brian Schneider flies out to LF Johnny Damon. 3 out.

Top of 6th Inning:

11:59am: The rain seems to have stopped for now, and the game is now official anyways. It's now the 6th inning, so this is either the time that Perez falls apart, or shows us greatness.

12:01pm: On a 3-2 pitch, Justin Christian flies out to RF Ryan Church. 1 out.

12:02pm: Chad Moeller pinch-hits for Darrell Rasner, as the Yankees need some runs. I hope they don't get shit, obviously.

12:03pm: Chad Moeller just misses a HR by a couple of feet, flying out to deeeeeep LF, but Endy Chavez pulls it down just in front of the wall. 2 out.

12:04pm: Johnny Damon lines a ball into deep RF. Ryan Church gets a glove on it but it deflects off the mitt to the wall, but Damon is held to a long single.

12:05pm: Derek fucking Jeter hits the first pitch he sees for a groundball to 2B Luis Castillo. Castillo flips to Jose Reyes at second for the 3rd out. 4-6. 3 out.

Bottom of 6th Inning:

12:08pm: David Robertson is making his MLB debut for the Skanks, pitching in relief of Darrell Rasner.

12:09pm: Perez goes flat on his back after Robertson throws high and inside, but it wasn't nearly as close as Perez' flop made it look.

12:11pm: Oliver Perez has a good AB but ultimately strikes out swinging. 1 out.

12:12pm: Jose Reyes singles to CF.

12:16pm: Luis Castillo singles down the leftfield line bringing him to 3-for-4 on the day. Reyes to 2nd base. Is a double-steal coming?

12:17pm: With David Wright batting, Robertson's first pitch is in the dirt and it gets away from Molina enough to allow Reyes and Castillo to move up 90 feet.

12:19pm: David Wright flies out to RF Justin Christian. Reyes and Castillo tag up on the play, Reyes scores. Mets up 3-0, 2 out.

12:20pm: Carlos Beltran flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. 3 out.

Top of 7th Inning:

12:22pm: The sun is shining bright at Shea Stadium again. No signs of rain for now.

12:24pm: Alex Rodriguez hits a first pitch that just goes foul down the LF line. The 2nd pitch he hits is a very high flyball just left of the pitcher's mound, David Wright catches it for the 1st out.

12:27pm: Jorge Posada hits a flyball to deep RF that Ryan Church takes a tough route to, but brings it down. 2 out.

12:29pm: Wilson Betemit hits a tape-measure HR blast over the picnic bleachers in leftfield. Yankees now on the board but trail 3-1.

12:31pm: Melky Cabrera hits a grounder to SS Jose Reyes who throws high to Carlos Delgado at 1B. Delgado should've caught it, but the Error goes to Reyes. The ball went into the dugout, so Cabrera takes 2nd base.

12:33pm: Jose Molina hits a flyball to RF Ryan Church. 3 out. We move into the 7th-inning stretch with the Mets up by a score of 3-1.

Bottom of 7th Inning:

12:38pm: Carlos Delgado hits a high flyball deep to RF, but Justin Christian catches it on the warning track. 1 out.

12:39pm: Ryan Church singles to RF.

12:40pm: Endy Chavez hits the ball the opposite way to LF for a base hit. Church to 2nd. Both Castillo and Chavez are 3-for-4 on the day.

12:42pm: Brian Schneider hits the first pitch into a 4-6-3 double play. 3 out.

Top of 8th Inning:

12:45pm: Met manager Jerry Manuel makes a double switch. Pedro Feliciano is on to pitch the 8th inning and will bat 5th in Carlos Delgado's spot, Fernando Tatis replaces Carlos Delgado at 1B.

12:48pm: Justin Christian flies out to LF Endy Chavez. 1 out.

12:49pm: The golden-thonged mustache Jason Giambi pinch-hits for David Robertson, and promptly hits the first pitch to LF Endy Chavez for out 2.

12:52pm: Joe Smith warming up in the bullpen in case Feliciano can't get Johnny Damon.

12:53pm: Pedro Feliciano strikes out Johnny Damon looking. 3 out.

Bottom of 8th Inning:

12:56pm: TBS announcer Chip Caray says that they were mistaken earlier about a double switch being made. There were two player changes (Tatis for Delgado, Feliciano for Perez) but they were not changed around in the lineup. Edwar Ramirez now pitching for the Yankees.

12:57pm: Marlon Anderson is in to pinch-hit for Pedro Feliciano. He flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. 1 out.

12:58pm: Jose Reyes flies out to shallow LF with SS Derek Jeter running it down. 2 out.

1:00pm: Luis Castillo flies out to LF Johnny Damon. 3 out.

Top of 9th Inning:

1:03pm: Enter Sandman. Billy Wagner is on to close out the game for the Mets. But he'll be facing Jeter, A-Rod and Posada in doing so.

1:05pm: Derek fucking Jeter lines a single up the middle that 2B Luis Castillo dives for but can't get to.

1:06pm: Billy Wagner throws a Wild Pitch in the dirt, Jeter to 2nd as the ball goes to the backstop.

1:07pm: A-Rod hits a shot that makes it to the LF warning track, but Endy Chavez catches it. 1 out.

1:08pm: Jorge Posada grounds to SS Jose Reyes, 6-3. Derek Jeter can't advance.

1:11pm: Billy Wagner throws a slider down Broadway and Betemit is frozen. Strike 3, 3 out. Game over. Mets win 3-1.

--------------------------------------------

- Oliver Perez has his best start of the season, with only a Wilson Betemit solo bomb to taint an otherwise great performance. 7IP, 3 H, NO WALKS, 1 ER, 8 strikeouts.

- Carlos Delgado's moonshot HR to put the Mets up 2-0.

- Both Luis Castillo and Endy Chavez knocked out 3 hits each, accounting for half the Met offense. Ryan Church and Jose Reyes had 2 hits each.

- Feliciano perfect in the 8th, Wagner scares us in the 9th by allowing a leadoff single from Derek fucking Jeter, who then gets to 2nd base thanks to a Wild Pitch, but ultimately Wags gets the job done by then retiring A-Rod, Posada and Betemit.

The Mets finish up the first 81 games of the season at 40-41, and win the season series from the Yankees 4-2.

My MLB All-Star Ballot as of June 10, 2008

Jun 10, 2008
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The MLB All-Star game is a little over a month away. Voting began on May 1, which is way too early to make All-Star picks, but as of June 10, with the latest results available, and the timing right, here are my votes and analysis for the 2008 All-Stars.

Keep in mind that there is still a lot of baseball left to be played between now and the end of the initial voting period which ends on July 2. Player performances can drastically change over that time period, so a ballot submitted then could look a lot different than one submitted on June 10.

American League:
1B Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. Kevin Youkilis (Boston)            926,758
2. Justin Morneau (Minnesota)     678,037
3. Jason Giambi (New York)        437,656
4. Carlos Pena (Tampa Bay)        296,769
5. Paul Konerko (Chicago)           270,410

My Pick: Justin Morneau (Minnesota)

Kevin Youkilis is practically neck-and-neck with Justin Morneau in stats across the board, so either one is a fine choice.

The Angels' Casey Kotchman should be getting more votes than he has, leading all AL 1B in BA (currently .307) and has been consistently good all season. The Tigers' Carlos Guillen is also a good pick, but he's since been moved out of 1B for the defensively-challenged Miguel Cabrera, who this year would be a terrible pick at any position.

Paul Konerko isn't remotely reasonable in that spot when he's been hitting under .220 practically the entire season, and doesn't have the power numbers that a Jason Giambi has to justify the votes. Carlos Pena is also a bad choice here, as he has more HRs than Konerko, but similar BA. Pena leads all AL 1B in strikeouts, and is also on the DL. A terrible choice.

2B Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. Dustin Pedroia (Boston)          809,114
2. Ian Kinsler (Texas)                  512,894
3. Robinson Cano (New York)      512,045
4. Placido Polanco (Detroit)         333,336
5. Brian Roberts (Baltimore)        233,752

My Pick: Ian Kinsler (Texas)

Red Sox nation may be stuffing the ballots here, but these results are completely absurd. Kinsler has better stats than Pedroia across the board to the point that it's ridiculous to vote for anyone BUT Ian Kinsler at this point. Brian Roberts would be a better pick than Pedroia, but still not close to Kinsler.

Robinson Cano is having a terrible year and doesn't even belong in the top 5. This category is a joke if Kinsler doesn't win. There's not a single justifiable reason for anyone else to get it.

SS Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. Derek Jeter (New York)            1,218,881
2. Michael Young (Texas)               533,582
3. Edgar Renteria (Detroit)            365,269
4. Julio Lugo (Boston)                     281,408
5. Orlando Cabrera (Chicago)          271,702

My Pick: Michael Young (Texas)

Derek Jeter is in this spot for two reasons. One, legacy at the position. Two, the All-Star game is in Yankee Stadium, so he's getting a LOT of hometown voting. But again, the fans are completely wrong and should be ashamed for voting this way.

This is a terrible pick when Michael Young's numbers trump Jeter's across the board in the same way Kinsler's stats obliterate the entire field at 2B.

The Rangers' middle infield is clearly getting short-changed in the voting because they're not a major market like New York or Boston, even though Young and Kinsler are the ONLY reasonable choices at these two positions.

3B Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. Alex Rodriguez (New York)        1,109,916
2. Mike Lowell (Boston)                     584,563
3. Miguel Cabrera (Detroit)               379,813
4. Joe Crede (Chicago)                      334,024
5. Scott Rolen (Toronto)                     204,472

My Pick: Alex Rodriguez (New York)

A-Rod's stint on the DL makes his stats this season seem on the weak side. What, ONLY 10 HRs? But he's still the best pick at the position. Mike Lowell also spent time on the DL this season, but his stats don't compare to A-Rod's in the least.

Miguel Cabrera isn't at 3B anymore, and even if he were, doesn't have the stats to warrant the votes.

The only other slightly reasonable pick at 3B is Chicago's Joe Crede, who leads all AL 3B with 14 HR and has a very good .291 BA.

C Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. Jason Varitek (Boston)               681,451
2. Joe Mauer (Minnesota)               630,372
3. Ivan Rodriguez (Detroit)               505,645
4. Jorge Posada (New York)            445,455
5. Victor Martinez (Cleveland)          321,063

My Pick: Dioner Navarro (Tampa Bay)

Based on stats, there are only two reasonable choices at what is a fairly weak field of catchers. Joe Mauer, and the Rays' Dioner Navarro, who despite a .349 BA leading all catchers, and has been hitting well over .300 all season, doesn't crack the top 5, which is ridiculous.

Varitek is a poor choice here, as he is every year. Red Sox Nation continues to try and flood the All-Star team with their players, even when very few of them should be involved.

Both Rodriguez and Varitek get votes based on how they performed 7 years ago, instead of in 2008. Jorge Posada spent a fair amount of time on the DL this season, and while he is hitting .311, hasn't played enough this year to matchup with Mauer and Navarro's stats.

DH Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. David Ortiz (Boston)                   1,261,879
2. Hideki Matsui (New York)             672,267
3. Jim Thome (Chicago)                   403,881
4. Gary Sheffield (Detroit)                 192,557
5. Frank Catalanotto (Texas)             188,622

My Pick: Hideki Matsui (New York)

David Ortiz is a great pick except he's on the DL and may be done for the season. Gary Sheffield is also on the DL, but is not a good pick at all this year.

Jim Thome has very good power numbers but that's about all. He's hitting .212 and strikes out at a very high rate.

Matsui is hitting .323 with 6 HR, 29 RBIs and a 1-to-1 BB/K ratio. With Ortiz out of the mix, no one else should get a vote except for Hideki Matsui.

OF Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. Manny Ramirez (Boston)              1,179,884
2. Josh Hamilton (Texas)                     922,220
3. Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle)                     696,176
4. Vladimir Guerrero (Los Angeles)       610,877
5. Bobby Abreu (New York)                 545,852
6. Magglio Ordonez (Detroit)               512,245
7. Johnny Damon (New York)            444,973
8. Melky Cabrera (New York)               439,893
9. Torii Hunter (Los Angeles)            421,694
10. Grady Sizemore (Cleveland)           410,465

My Picks: Josh Hamilton (Texas), (write-in) Carlos Quentin (Chicago), Manny Ramirez (Boston)

Josh Hamilton is having an amazing season so far, 17 HR, 69 RBIs (wow), and .315 BA. Clearly deserves the vote.

Carlos Quentin is an unfortunate victim of not being on the ballot, so he's not getting the votes. He'll definitely make the team thanks to the players' voting, but fans should be writing him in at a faster clip. If I could write-in Milton Bradley (Texas) as well, I would.

And Manny Ramirez is a fine choice this season based on his numbers.

There are a good number of options for the AL outfield. I have no quarrel with guys like Ichiro, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu making the top 10.

There are still people on the list though, who shouldn't be. Vladimir Guerrero is having a very mediocre season. Melky Cabrera is good, but is no All-Star. Torii Hunter isn't having the season that other better players are.

Pitching:
Fans of course, don't get to vote for pitchers in the All-Star game. But here are my 10 picks in case the players need some guidance. J 5 starters, 5 relievers, in no particular order.

Starters: Cliff Lee (Cleveland), Roy Halladay (Toronto), Ervin Santana, (Los Angeles), Scott Kazmir (Tampa Bay), Jose Contreras (Chicago).

Relievers: Mariano Rivera (New York), Frankie Rodriguez (Los Angeles), Jonathan Papelbon (Boston), George Sherrill (Baltimore), Joakim Soria (Kansas City)

So, in conclusion, my AL ballot:
C: Dioner Navarro (Tampa Bay)
1B: Justin Morneau (Minnesota)
2B: Ian Kinsler (Texas)
SS: Michael Young (Texas)
3B: Alex Rodriguez (New York)
DH: Hideki Matsui (New York)
OF: Josh Hamilton (Texas), (write-in) Carlos Quentin (Chicago), Manny Ramirez (Boston)

Overall, the fan voting is leading to some absolutely terrible choices so far at 2B, SS and C positions, picking 3 guys who don’t belong starting.

Onto the National League Ballot!!!

National League

1B Current Leaders (as of June 10, 2008)
1. Lance Berkman (Houston)            1,046,249
2. Derrick Lee (Chicago)                     771,516
3. Albert Pujols (St. Louis)                   700,777
4. Ryan Howard (Philadelphia)              368,012
5. Prince Fielder (Milwaukee)               317,039

My Pick: Lance Berkman (Houston)

Berkman is the best pick of them all by far, although I wouldn’t necessarily spit on someone for voting for Pujols, Lee, or San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez.

Ryan Howard doesn’t deserve to be on the All-Star team with a .214 BA. Prince Fielder isn’t putting up the numbers that other more worthy candidates are.

2B Current Leaders (as of June 10, 2008)
1. Chase Utley (Philadelphia)     1,284,961
2. Mark DeRosa (Chicago)            589,637
3. Kazuo Matsui (Houston)            523,335
4. Dan Uggla (Florida)                   366,848
5. Orlando Hudson (Arizona)         333,998

My Pick: Chase Utley (Philadelphia)

Up until recently, no one was even remotely close to being a reasonable option OTHER than Chase Utley.

Florida’s Dan Uggla has experienced an offensive surge which is still short of Utley’s numbers, but would make a good option as a backup. DeRosa is a good hitter but doesn’t have the power of Utley or Uggla.

SS Current Leaders (as of June 10, 2008)
1. Miguel Tejada (Houston)             726,835
2. Hanley Ramirez (Florida)           607,528
3. Ryan Theriot (Chicago)                583,433
4. Jose Reyes (New York)               498,007
5. Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia)        442,885

My Pick: Hanley Ramirez (Florida)

Up until he went on the DL in early May, Rafael Furcal of the Los Angeles Dodgers was having an All-Star caliber start to his season. Alas, he’s been out for over a month now and there’s no definitive timetable on when he’ll return.

With the current field of shortstops, it’s really a 2-man race and the fans have it right for once. Miguel Tejada and Hanley Ramirez are the best options. Jose Reyes has improved greatly from his slow April, but he’s still not as good a choice as Ramirez or Tejada.

I give the edge to Hanley because of the power numbers (14 HRs compared to Tejada’s 7), but don’t find Tejada to be a bad pick since he’s been hitting hover .300 most of the season.

Ryan Theriot and Jimmy Rollins are good choices, but not the best. Atlanta’s Yuniel Escobar is at the same level.

3B (Current Leaders (as of June 10, 2008)
1. Chipper Jones (Atlanta)            1,110,171
2. Aramis Ramirez (Chicago)           726,973
3. David Wright (New York)              655,105
4. Ty Wigginton (Houston)            359,989
5. Mark Reynolds (Arizona)              292,702

My Pick: Chipper Jones (Atlanta)

Open and shut. Chipper Jones is hitting .420 on June 10 and leads all NL 3B with 15 HRs. Any other vote is retarded. Seriously. And I HATE Chipper Jones.

C (Current Leaders (as of June 10, 2008)
1. Geovany Soto (Chicago)          969,853
2. Brian McCann (Atlanta)           578,276
3. Yadier Molina (St. Louis)         458,084
4. J.R. Towles (Houston)             367,248
5. Russell Martin (Los Angeles)   350,694

My Pick: Brian McCann (Atlanta)

Brian McCann and Geovany Soto are the top 2 in the voting, and either one would be a good choice at starting catcher. Currently McCann has the better numbers, but they’re so close, either one would be fine.

Yadier Molina is hitting .295, but older brother Bengie Molina is hitting .333 with better overall numbers. Bengie isn’t in the top 5 votegetters.

J.R. Towles might be the most ridiculous pick ever, with a .145 BA. Embarrassing.

Russell Martin is hitting very well but doesn’t have the power numbers of Soto or McCann. He still should be higher in the voting than Molina or Towles.

OF (Current Leaders (as of June 9, 2008)
1. Alfonso Soriano (Chicago)               1,088,866
2. Kosuke Fukudome (Chicago)             918,262
3. Ken Griffey Jr. (Cincinnati)                 775,759
4. Carlos Lee (Houston)                         587,027
5. Carlos Beltran (New York)                  518,838
6. Ryan Braun (Milwaukee)                     514,913
7. Matt Holliday (Colorado)                   507,628
8. Hunter Pence (Houston)                     500,857
9. Pat Burrell (Philadelphia)                    487,131
10. Rick Ankiel (St. Louis)                     478,136

My Picks: Ryan Braun (Milwaukee), Alfonso Soriano (Chicago), Ryan Ludwick (St. Louis)

This is an interesting result that the fans have put together. Kosuke Fukudome has become a fan favorite of the Cubs and had a very good start to the season but has cooled off considerably. He’s probably good enough to be a reserve OF, but in no way should be a starter.

Ken Griffey Jr. is a nostalgia pick but doesn’t have the numbers to warrant being here.

Carlos Beltran is a ridiculous choice unless you’re voting for the best defensive CF of the bunch. Otherwise, he has no business on the team having the nothing season he’s having.

Matt Holliday would probably be one of my picks if not for him being on the DL.

Carlos Lee’s BA isn’t good enough to warrant so many votes, although Astros fans are clearly voting in big numbers when guys like J.R. Towles, Kazuo Matsui and Carlos Lee are garnering as many votes as they’ve gotten.

A lot of absurd people in the top 10 here, as opposed to the AL’s top 10, which are mostly good picks.

Pitchers:
5 starters and 5 relievers, in no particular order.

Starters: Edinson Volquez (Cincinnati), Tim Lincecum (San Francisco), Brandon Webb (Arizona), Ben Sheets (Milwaukee), Ryan Dempster (Chicago).

Relievers: Billy Wagner (New York), Brad Lidge (Philadelphia), Kerry Wood (Chicago), Matt Capps (Pittsburgh), Brandon Lyon (Arizona).

So, in conclusion, my NL ballot:
C: Brian McCann (Atlanta)
1B: Lance Berkman (Houston)
2B: Chase Utley (Philadelphia)
SS: Hanley Ramirez (Florida)
3B: Chipper Jones (Atlanta)
OF: Ryan Braun (Milwaukee), Alfonso Soriano (Chicago), Ryan Ludwick (St. Louis)

Overall, the fans have put together much better picks for the NL starters except in the Outfield, with only Alfonso Soriano being deserving of starting in the current top 3 votegetters.

LIVEBLOGGING: New York Mets vs New York Yankees 6-17-07

Jun 17, 2007
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I haven't done this since the 2006 MLB playoffs, but it's time for another rendition of a liveblog during a game.

Tonight's game is on ESPN from Yankee Stadium, Mets vs Yankees. The series is tied 1-1, and the Mets are desperate for not just a win, but a true rebound. Atlanta and Philadelphia are 2 and 2.5 games back respectively, and the Mets are barely clinging to the top of the NL East.

Remember, all times are Pacific.

5:05pm: Peter Gammons joins in the commentary as to what the Mets are trying to do while playing the Yankees, which has been to steal a shitload of bases. Jose Reyes has stolen 5 bases in the first two games.

5:09pm: Skankees take the field. Willie has put Paul Lo Duca back in the #2 position in the Mets lineup, which is a good idea. Not sure why he thought moving Lo Duca to #6 was the right call. Unfortunately, Carlos Delgado is still in the lineup, something which clearly needs to temporarily stop. Delgado is hurting this team more than helping. People want to call it a slump. I call it it hitting the wall. And I wonder if Delgado could even do that with a bat anymore.

Top 1:
5:12pm: Jose Reyes leads off and pops out to shallow rightfield. You can hear the Skankee fans in the bleachers doing their annoying "chant each guy's name" briefly. We get a nice blimp shot of the New Yankee Stadium being built. Paul Lo Duca is hit on the first pitch he sees from Wang. Looks like it got him on the left elbow. He's in a little pain.

5:13pm: Jon Miller informs us that this is the 5th batter Wang has hit all season, more than any other Yankee pitcher. Carlos Beltran is up, and he's not hitting much better than Delgado. Beltran has seemingly reverted back to 2005 form, and that's a terrible thing.

5:14pm: Sure enough, Carlos Beltran hits into a 4-6-3 double play. Beltran is REALLY frustrating.

Bottom 1:
5:18pm: El Douche gets leadoff hitter Johnny Damon to strikeout looking.

5:20pm: Derek Jeter hits a 3-1 pitch on the ground just under 2B Ruben Gotay for a single. Joe Morgan calls the Mets 2B Jose Valentin and Carlos Gomez before finally getting it right. Which is more than I can say for "legendary" Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, who gets player names wrong more often than Ralph Kiner ever did.

5:23pm: Bobby Abreu flies out to centerfield on a 3-2 curveball. Gay-Rod up to the plate with 2 out, his boyfriend on first.

5:26pm: El Douche doesn't have his stuff tonight, again. A-Rod crushes a 2-run blast to leftfield, Yanks up 2-0 in the bottom 1.

5:27pm: Jorge Posada grounds out to shortstop for the third out.

Top 2:
5:30pm: David Wright is up to lead off the 2nd. He and Reyes are the only people on the team hitting in key positions lately. Lo Duca still has the high average but isn't driving people in.

5:31pm: Wright grounds out to Jeter for out 1.

5:32pm: Carlos Delgado hits a grounder the opposite way but A-Rod dives, stands up and throws out the slow Delgado easily for the 2nd out.

5:34pm: Jose Valentin is the DH today, which probably says a lot about just how bad the Mets are right now when a .263 hitter who is strikeout-prone, is DH'ing. This is not the 2006 Mets right now, nor is this even close to the 2006 Jose Valentin.

5:35pm: And to prove my point, Valentin strikes out looking.

Bottom 2:
5:38pm: Hideki Matsui leads off the 2nd and rips a single past 2B Gotay.

5:39pm: Robinson Cano grounds into a 4-3 FC. 1 out.

5:42pm: Melky Cabrera watches strike 3 go by. Very nice 12-6 curveball. 2 out.

5:46pm: Miguel Cairo hammers a 3-2 curveball into leftfield for a clutch double which drives Matsui home for a 3-0 lead.

5:50pm: Johnny Damon singles to rightfield which drives in Miguel Cairo. Shawn Green makes a horrible throw to the plate which is way off, and Damon scoots to 2nd on the throw. 4-0 Yankees. I'm now regretting my decision to blog this game.

5:52pm: El Douche gets Derek Jeter to swing at an outside pitch for strike 3, out 3. Go figure. El Douche is pissing me off.

Top 3:
5:56pm: Shawn Green leads of the 3rd and hits a long flyball to deep leftfield, for the first out.

5:58pm: Ruben Gotay his a short chopper towards 2B Cano, but is thrown out easily for out 2.

6:00pm: Chien-Ming Wang strikes out Carlos Gomez for the easy 1-2-3 inning. The bottom of the Mets order is all sorts of pitiful.

Bottom 3:
6:03pm: Bobby Abreu leads off the inning lining a ball down the leftfield line which caroms away from Carlos Gomez and turns into a triple for Abreu. Gomez is not a particularly good leftfielder, but to be fair, I'm not sure anyone other than Matsui might've been able to play that ball correctly.

6:04pm: A-Rod hits a ball to deep centerfield but Carlos Beltran tracks it down for the out. Abreu scores on the sac fly, Yankees now up 5-0. They've scored in all 3 innings so far. The Mets, have not. At this pace, the final score is going to be 15-0. This is not good.

6:07pm: Posada strikes out. 2 out.

6:08pm: Hideki Matsui grounds out to Carlos Delgado for the third out.

Top 4:
6:14pm: Jose Reyes works a 3-2 leadoff count against Wang before singling to centerfield. The ball was just out of reach of Derek Jeter, who even if he got it, would not have been able to thrown out the speedy Reyes. Finally the Mets get a hit. Now they just need 6 runs.

6:15pm: The Yankees pitchout on a 1-1 count, Reyes was stealing and gets thrown out easily. Smart play by the Skanks. FUCK!

6:16pm: Lo Duca grounds to Jeter for out 2. That would've been a double play had Reyes been on first.

6:18pm: Carlos Beltran strikes out to end the inning. I need to dunk my head in some acid.

6:20pm: Willie Randolph is interviewed between innings by Miller and Morgan. Willie notes that El Douche is not firing on all cylinders tonight. Gee, ya think? Now we learn that Paul Lo Duca is out of the game because his forearm started to swell up after being hit in the 1st inning by Wang. Ramon Castro is in to replace him.

Bottom 4:
6:22pm: Robinson Cano wallops a ball to deep center, but Carlos Beltran makes the catch.

6:23pm: Melky Cabrera flies out to shallow rightfield. Shawn Green makes a diving (but not pretty) catch for out 2.

6:25pm: Miguel Cairo hits a routine grounder to David Wright, 5-3 for the 3rd out.

Top 5:
6:28pm: David Wright hits a soft chopper to Derek Jeter for the first out. Why do the Mets insist on making Wang look so good? He's really not!

6:29pm: Carlos Delgado is up, and he's likely an instant out.

6:30pm: Not only an instant out, but an instant strikeout. Delgado looked really bad swinging at a high fastball.

6:31pm: Jose Valentin lines a ball down the rightfield line for a double. Only the 2nd hit of the game for the Mets, and the first Met to reach 2nd.

6:32pm: Well that didn't last long. Green pops out to A-Rod for out 3.

Bottom 5:
6:34pm: Johnny Damon leads off with a solo shot to the short porch in rightfield which barely clears the fence. That ball probably went 330 feet. 6-0 Yankees.

6:38pm: Jeter gets struck out again on an outside corner pitch.

6:39pm: Bobby Abreu gets nailed in the high back on what seemed like a fastball, but can't see any reason why it would have been intentional. Now the NEXT batter, I recommend hitting in the fucking head.

6:40pm: Scott Schoeneweis is up in the Mets bullpen. The way Hernandez has been pitching today, Aaron Sele should have started instead.

6:41pm: El Douche walks A-Rod on 4 straight balls.

6:42pm: Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson has a meeting at the mound with Douche and Castro. Interesting trivia note from ESPN. The Yankees have won 18 of the last 19 interleague series played at Yankee Stadium. The one time they lost, was in 2005 against the Mets. If memory serves correctly, I think they won 2 of 3 from the Mets at Shea that year.

6:44pm: Douche gets Posada to strikeout for the 2nd out, but that's it for Hernandez. Willie Randolph going to lefty Scott Schoeneweis to pitch against lefty Hideki Matsui.

6:47pm: Jon Miller thinks El Douche got a round of applause for his performance from the Yankee and Met fans. No Jon, they (Yankee fans) applauded him for sucking ass and giving up 6 ER in 5 IP.

6:48pm: Schoeneweis gets Matsui to strikeout on 3 straight pitches to end the inning.

Top 6:
6:52pm: Ruben Gotay strikes out looking for out 1.

6:54pm: Carlos Gomez works out a walk, the first one given up by Wang in the game.

6:56pm: Reyes grounds out into a 3-6-3 double play. This is pretty much the norm for this team at this point.

Bottom 6:
6:59pm: Robinson Cano hits a chopper just past pitcher Scott Schoeneweis, who should have gotten it but doesn't. Infield hit for Cano.

7:03pm: Melky Cabrera flies out to Carlos Gomez, who manages not to run back and forth like a deranged monkey before catching the ball.

7:04pm: Miguel Cairo grounds into a 4-3 double play to end the inning.

Top 7:
7:07pm: Ramon Castro strikes out to lead off the inning. This is Wang's 6th K of the game, which is way higher than normal for him since he isn't a strikeout pitcher. In fact, he has 3.43 K per 9 IP, which is the lowest of any starter in MLB who pitches with any regularity.

7:09pm: Carlos Beltran grounds out to 2nd for out 2.

7:12pm: David Wright strikes out but reaches 1st base when Posada can't handle the ball in the dirt. 7 K's is Wang's season-high.

7:13pm: And here comes strikeout #8, Carlos Delgado.

7:14pm: Shock of shocks, Delgado doubles to rightfield, scoring David Wright, breaking up the shutout. 6-1 Yankees.

7:15pm: An airhorn is blaring a 3-horn beat, which is supposed to get a "LETS GO METS" chant going. The Skankee fans boo it.

7:16pm: Ron Guidry and Jorge Posada meet on the mound with Chien-Mien Wang to discuss things. The Mets probably have a better chance against the Yankees bullpen than they do Wang, unless he has just hit his breaking point and is going to give up a bunch of runs.

7:17pm: Jose Valentin scorches a grounder right to Robinson Cano who throws to 1st for the 3rd out.

Bottom 7:
7:23pm: Aaron Heilman is in to pitch for the Mets.

7:24pm: Johnny Damon grounds to Ruben Gotay at 2nd who almost takes the ball in the face before throwing to 1st for the out.

7:26pm: Jeter hits a hard grounder to David Wright's right. Wright dives, gets up and barely gets Jeter at 1st. Web gem, yes. Best web gem today? No.

7:28pm: Why is Andy Pettite throwing in the Yankee bullpen? Bobby Abreu grounds out to Carlos Delgado who runs to the bag for the third out.

Top 8:
7:31pm: Joe Morgan notes that Moises Alou has been gone for 3 weeks and no one knows when (or if) he's coming back.

7:32pm: Wang gets Shawn Green to strikeout. Peter Gammons notes that the Mets might be interested in Mark Buehrle on the White Sox. The camera has a shot of Omar Minaya, and right behind him is Spike Lee. Gammons also mentions the Mets interest in Brad Lidge, although that doesn't seem so likely right now. The Mets really need an outfielder who doesn't get injured easily AND can hit.

7:34pm: Ruben Gotay shoots a single into leftfield.

7:38pm: After fouling several balls off, Carlos Gomez strikes out swinging.

7:40pm: Jose Reyes swings through strike 2 so much that he almost injures himself.

7:41pm: Reyes strikes out. That's 10 K's for a guy (Wang) who usually doesn't strike out more than 3 guys in a game. The Mets truly suck.

Bottom 8:
7:46pm: A-Rod lines a double to the left-centerfield wall.

7:47pm: Jorge Posada is up, and he's due.

7:49pm: I called it. Posada lines a homer to the short porch for another 2 runs. 8-1 Yankees.

7:50pm: Willie Randolph has seen enough from Heilman, so it's time (presumably?) for Pedro Feliciano to pitch against Hideki Matsui.

7:52pm: The Yankees are going to expand their league-leading overall interleague record to 112-74 in about 20 mins.

7:54pm: Matsui hits a ball to leftfield which Carlos Gomez tracks down for out 1.

7:55pm: Cano grounds to Gotay for the 2nd out. Apparently Carlos Delgado thought that was the third out.

7:56pm: In a play typical of the Mets tonight, Melky Cabrera squirts a grounder down the first base line. Pedro Feliciano fields the ball cleanly and should have tagged Cabrera coming down the line, but instead tried to look to first. Delgado wasn't covering, thinking that Feliciano would've made the tag. That'll be scored an infield hit, but it really should be an error on the pitcher. At least he didn't throw the ball away into rightfield.

7:58pm: Peter Gammons talks about Eric Gagne being a reliever very likely to be traded before July 31. Several teams (Mets, Tigers) have interest in him, and it's a foregone conclusion that he won't be with Texas for much longer. Where he goes, no one knows yet.

7:59pm: Miguel Cairo is hit by a pitch on the leg. Runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 out.

8:00pm: Johnny Damon pops out to Jose Reyes at shortstop for the 3rd out. Mets last chance coming up and they're down by ONLY 7 runs... Uh huh.

Top 9:
8:04pm: Wang goes into the 9th inning, and why not, he's mowing the Mets down in one of his best starts of the season. However, Ramon Castro leads off the inning with a ground rule double to left-center.

8:05pm: Beltran scalds a ball to rightfield which ends up only being a single since Abreu plays it well, but Castro scores on the hit. 8-2 Yankees.

8:06pm: Lefty Mike Myers is up in the Yankee bullpen.

8:08pm: Just when the Mets might have somewhat of a rally going, David Wright grounds into a 5-6-3 double play.

8:09pm: With lefty Carlos Delgado coming up and Wang's pitch count being over 110, Joe Torre decides to go to the pen. The Yankee fans are booing since they wanted him to get the Complete Game (very valuable in fantasy baseball). They then give him an ovation for a fantastic performance (2 ER, 6 H, 8.2 IP, 1 BB, 10 K)

8:11pm: Mike Myers is now in to face Delgado, and will likely K him.

8:12pm: And Delgado strikes out again to end this miserable game.

The Mets now go back home to Shea for 10 games. They'll face the Twins, A's and Cardinals, and then go to Philly to finish out June.

Team Vox Updated: Nov 2, 2009
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez Updated: Aug 15, 2008
Shuckmaster Updated: Sep 13, 2007
Christopher SJ Ong Updated: Jul 8, 2007
Just Jane Updated: Jun 23, 2007

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9 posts tagged “derek jeter”

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